This is moot now that 5x06 has aired but I'm going to go ahead and post it so I have a place to keep all these little ficlets together.
If she is surprised to find him sitting alone in their room, barefoot and lost in thought, she gives no hint. Instead she sidles past, intent on keeping up the icy silence that has grown over the last few days. Weeks. Months.
for a brief moment her horror is eclipsed by the knowledge that Robert is there, battling for her honor. then shame eclipses guilt eclipses joy eclipses horror. bricker leaves with some words that she doesn't hear because she is watching her husband's face collapse. his shoulders are slumped when he walks through the door to his dressing room.
His fingers catch the ephemeral silk of her sleeve then band loosely around her wrist. She offers no resistance as he gathers her into his arms, pulling her to rest across his knees.
he doesn't sleep in his dressing room. he replays the scene over and over, until his stomach turns like sour milk and he nearly retches. he has come to a bitter conclusion and it fills his belly with vile. he caused this. he drove his wife into the arms of a dandy. the backhand to bricker's cheek was felt in his own gut and he continues to punish himself through his wife. she returns his bitterness with kindness and anger is the only thing he feels.
He knows she is holding her breath from her rigid stillness even as he curls his face against her throat.
She smells of orchids and powder tinged with the unmistakable whiff of hurt.
His mumbled words burn across her collarbone; his injured hand curls against her hip.
I'm sorry. I love you. Don't leave me. Save me.
She begins to cry.