"Don't mind me, love. Go on, get ready. I'll be in my usual spot when you
feel like coming in. In fact, I'll leave the door unlocked for you, unless
you're planning to do the dirty deed right here. Would you like to use our
bedroom? Go right ahead, in fact if I'm in the way, and you want my side
of the bed, just ask me to move." He sneered, scowling at her even more harshly.
She didn't reply, preferring to keep quiet for fear she'd reveal her thoughts.
She had been thinking about him, but it was only because he was being so
cruel; didn't he understand? If he didn't stop acting like this he would
eventually drive her away, and have no one to blame but himself
"On second thought, screw that. I'm sleeping in the library tonight." He
turned, and walked out, leaving Lucrecia there to stew. She stared after
him, watching carefully until he was out of earshot, and then she let go.
She picked up his pillow, and hurled it across the room, reveling in the
whump it made upon smacking the wall. It made her feel a little better, but
not much. She really wished she could throw him against the wall. But she
couldn't, so his pillow would have to do. She grabbed her own pillow, and
sent it flying in the same direction.
She didn't stop with the pillows, throwing the blanket after them. Oh, it
made her feel so much better! She looked around for something else to throw,
and spotted his wallet. She snatched it up, and hurled it, tossing a romance
novel after it. The book bounced off the wall, landing of the floor in a
heap, tearing the cover off. She ignored this and threw another book, letting
it land next to everything else.
Throw it, throw it, throw it! She kept throwing things, venting her anger
and hurt in the safest way she could. She didn't even care if he could hear
her now, she was so angry. How dare he treat her like this?!
She scarcely knew what she was doing when she hurled the bedside lamp across
the room to shatter against the wall. The crash brought her back to reality.
Oh shit. That had been her favorite lamp, a wedding present she had brought
with her to the mansion. And now it was broken, and all because of her. She
walked over to the heap of broken glass, and dropped down to her knees to
inspect the damage.
It was not repairable; she knew that right away. It was broken into too many
pieces, and they were scattered all over the ground. Ruined. Sighing, she
started collecting the chunks of broken glass, and stacking them into a neat
pile to dispose of later. She wondered if he'd notice that the lamp was missing
When he came to bed later. Oh, that's right, he wasn't coming to bed tonight.
He was going to spend the night in the library downstairs with precious JENOVA.
That monstrous thing that Gast had escavated a few months back in the northern
crater. It almost seemed like he loved that thing more than he did her.
Lucrecia ::hated:: JENOVA with a passion. It seemed that everything had been
fine until this 'crisis from the sky' had come into their lives. Before the
project, things had been ::so:: much better. Simon had actually paid attention
to her, and he hadn't been all moody and cranky all the time. She sighed.
How long had they been married now?
She counted the months on her fingers, shocked at how hard it was to actually
figure the date. After a moment or two of thought, she had her answer.
Eleven months. They'd only been married for a laughable eleven months. What
a joke. The marriage had started to go downhill somewhere around the eighth
month, the month they'd made two important discoveries.
One came out of nowhere and was the frozen Cetra JENOVA in her icy grave.
The other had been suspected for a while, but finally confirmed. Their baby.
The baby. Lucrecia thought a lot about their unborn child a lot lately. Now
four months along, she was just starting to show a bit, nothing major yet.
A casual glance would reveal nothing. But Lucrecia could se the little changes
here and there; a tenderness in her breasts, a kind of heavy feeling.
The baby was already starting to kick a bit. Being her first pregnancy she
wasn't sure if it was a bit early, but it didn't seem really out of place.
All babies kicked. She absentmindedly put a hand on her stomach; the baby
had seemed ::so:: active lately.
Maybe it could sense it's mother's stress. That would explain a lot. She
sighed. In three days time, she and Simon had more than twice that number
of arguments, all resulting in him withdrawing away to the library to sulk.
The arguments had been going on for a few months now, but lately they seemed
to center around on thing.
That Turk, Vincent Valentine.
For god's sake, they were only friends! Nothing more and nothing less! But
try to tell Simon that. She'd known he was a jealous man when she'd married
him, but it had been all right back then. It was kinda flattering the way
he had always been a bit jealous of any other man even speaking to her. It
had been a simple thing, now it was threatening to tear them apart.
Vincent...
He'd always been there for her. And she was no fool, she understood he had
a bit of a crush on her. She'd seen the look in his eyes shortly after they
met when he noticed the ring on her finger, and she'd seen it again when
he learned that she was pregnant.
She knew that look well. She'd seen it in her own eyes many times since then.
It was the look of someone who knew what they wanted, but felt they could
never have it.
Vincent was nothing more than a good friend to her, of course but lately...
it was almost like his feelings were wearing off on her. She found herself
thinking about him lately, and most of the thoughts were decidedly not wholesome.
He ::did:: care about her, more than her own husband seemed to. And she...
she'd be a liar to say she didn't care for him as well. Didn't that make
it all right?
Besides, if Simon was going to act like this, what did he expect? He could
only taunt and accuse just so much before she wouldn't take it anymore.
So fuck it, fuck it all. If Simon wanted an adulteress for a wife so desperately,
she would give it to him. She went to the door and opened it slowly, trying
to make as little noise as possible. Vincent ::should:: be prowling around
the mansion, just starting on the night shift security details.
Her plans of reading in bed tonight had just been changed.