A/N: I DO NOT own the rights to the Law & Order franchise, or the rights to the song Fairytale by Sara Bareilles.
Fairytale
Jodi put a leg up on the bar, sighing and taking a deep breath as she bent down, bringing her nose to her foot as she stretched out her leg.
She heard footsteps against the wood floor and turned to see Alexander appear beside her.
"Hey." she said, sighing.
"Hey." he replied, throwing his bag down and grabbing one of his legs, lifting it up as well.
"You don't look so hot." Jodi said, noticing the dark circles under his eyes and his stretched and torn expression.
"Yeah, broke up with my girlfriend." he replied.
Jodi nodded.
"Sorry to hear that. John and I are going into marriage counseling."
"What?" Alexander said, looking at her sharply.
Jodi nodded.
"Why?" he asked.
Jodi and Alexander now talked about their respective relationships often, but she had never told him about the Elliot situation. She supposed she should have, which would explain why exactly Elliot didn't like him, but she didn't want it to change his opinion of her.
"I'd rather not talk about it." she said quickly, before setting her foot on the ground and moving on to the next.
Alexander said nothing else, and the two of them stretched in silence before the director walked into the room.
"Hello everyone."
Jodi sighed, turning around and took off her sweater, tossing it beside her bag before taking a deep breath, and grasping the bar tightly.
"Hello, nice to meet both of you. I'm Dr. Slavens, but you can call me Michelle."
Jodi extended her hand, taking it and giving the woman a firm handshake. John simply stared before doing he same then the two sat down on the couch in her office.
"So, I understand you two are having trust issues."
Jodi nodded, and John continued to look at the walls. He did not want to be here. He did not feel comfortable at all revealing all of his problems to this stranger.
"Okay, let's see what I have here...it says that you have suffered some infidelity in your relationship?"
John sank further into the couch, and Jodi cleared her throat, looking at him.
"What?" he said irritably.
Her eyes widened, and she sighed, turning back to Michelle.
"Yes, I um...when we were still dating, I cheated on John." she said with a slight waver in her voice. John watched as she held her hea dhigh in an attempt to keep the shame from showing obviously.
"I see. Was this a long-term affair?"
"No, just a one-night stand."
Michelle nodded, before turning to John.
"Do you have anything to add to this John?" she asked.
"No." he replied quickly, and he heard Jodi sigh deeply beside him.
"Okay, I'm seeing a huge problem here already. You're not talking, you're not communicating, and that's something that needs to be done. When was the last time you two have even had an actual conversation?"
They both looked at one another, and neither answered.
"Communication seems to be a key issue, but we'll address that later. What were the circumstances of your infidelity Jodi?"
"Wait, are you trying to say that what she did was justifiable?" John immediately sat up.
"I simply asked Jodi what exactly happened." Michelle said, furrowing her eyebrows before crossing her legs and writing something down.
John rolled his eyes, and looked over at Jodi, who had a strange look on her face.
The rest of the session had gone by rather quickly. Jodi had done all the talking, and John had let her. He simply hoped that when they got home she would have felt like she'd talked everything out and they'd be fine.
As they walked outside, Jodi broke away from John immediately, stepping forward to hail a cab.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.
As she turned around, John saw that her face was streaked with tears, eyes bright red and swollen.
"Getting a cab." she whimpered, before one pulled up beside the curb.
Before John could even say anything, she got in and slammed the door and John watched as she disappeared down the street.
"FUCK!" he screamed loudly, kicking a pile of snow angrily before going to his car.
"Okay Elizabeth, so what happened when you finally went to the police?"
"I was placed in the Witness Protection Program, in exchange for telling them names."
Trevor nodded, looking over at Carolyn who had been grilling Elizabeth for the last three hours as they built their case.
"Were you there the night your husband was arrested?"
Elizabeth hesitated only a second, having gone over the question several times and swallowed the emotion that built within her every time it was asked.
"I had just gone out."
"To do what?"
"Take care of some things."
"Liz, answer the question!" Trevor exclaimed.
Elizabeth sighed, swallowing. Even after several times she was embarrassed to say it.
"I had gone to my gynecologist."
"For what?"
"I thought I might have had something."
Her face burned brightly, and she lowered her head. Trevor walked over, putting his hands on her shoulders.
"It's okay Liz, just keep talking." he urged her.
"When you came back, what did you find."
Elizabeth looked up, taking another deep breath and nodding.
"The entire house was in shambles. There was blood everywhere, things were upturned. Someone had already called the police."
Carolyn nodded.
"What happened after that."
Elizabeth opened her mouth say something once more but found herself suddenly unable to speak. Unable to breath. Unable to do anything really.
She gasped, grasping her chest as a pain and terror ran through her, and felt as though her lungs were contracting into small knots.
Trevor yelled something she did not hear, lunging forward as she fell from her chair and onto the ground, releasing herself into darkness.
Jodi stood, looking out of the window as large snowflakes fell outside, covering the street below.
She sighed, turning around to find John, standing at the doorway.
There was a tense and heavy silence, as neither of them had spoken or seen one another since the appointment earlier.
John closed the door behind him, and Jodi walked over to the bed, sitting down with her arms crossed.
Emotion boiled wildly within her. The truth was, after thinking over everything that day she truly had a hard time believing that John loved her.
Had she cheated? Yes, and he had taken her back. In fact, he had proposed to her. He had become her everything, the father of her children, but now she doubted he even felt anything.
"I want you to tel me something." Jodi looked up boldly, her heart beating intensely as she thought about it.
"What?" John asked.
"Do you love me?"
He simply looked at her, crossing his arms.
"What kind of question is that?"
"One that you're not even answering. Do you love me?"
"Of course."
As he said it, Jodi caught a fleeting glance of something in his eyes. What was it? Doubt? There was no mistaking it.
Jodi felt her lip quiver immediately, and turned her head, not wanting him to see her cry at all.
"Jodi..." he murmured softly but she held out a hand stopping him and shaking her head.
"Please...just go..."