Current mood:	rushed
Current music:	"Watched you fall" By Meredith Brooks

Rated: PG
Disclaimer: abc
Spoilers: Pretty little picture

"Duty II"

Summary: Sequel to duty, see part one.

“Look, just stay a bit longer- we need to talk and perhaps it´s easier to do it here than at home.”
For a moment she looked as though she wanted to disagree with him, her eyes darted around the room and Rex felt uncomfortable aware of the fact that he had already messed it up completely.
To his astonishment Bree didn´t say anything about it however, instead she stiffly sat down on the bed next to him.
There was a long moment of silence, then Bree said “So, what do you want to talk about?” Rex, who had just started on his cherry pie, waved her question aside.
“I´m not drunk enough for that yet.”
Bree didn´t smile. “Well, in that case I don´t think we´ll get anywhere tonight, it´ll be impossible for you to get wasted on a single bottle of Merlot.”
“I wasn´t planning on that, there´s a full bottle of whiskey on the table.”
“Rex!”
“What? I only bought the essentials.”
Bree had to bite her lip to keep herself from smiling and Rex relaxed a bit.
He filled the wine glass again and held it out for her.
“Here, you´ll need some of it.”
“Rex, I didn´t come here to get drunk.”
“Trust me, you did.”
“What´s that supposed to mean?”
“Come on, Bree, you didn´t come here because you wanted to talk to me? Am I really supposed to believe that?”
“Well, I-“
“Ok, I agree that you probably wanted only me to do the talking- apologizing, admitting I´ve been all wrong and saying that I will come home with you.”
Bree didn´t answer immediately, she was sipping her wine, looking at his open dresser where his suits were hung up in a most unorganized way with an almost painful expression on her face.
“What makes you so sure I came here to talk to you? You spent the last couple of months telling me that I was cold and emotionless, why don´t you simply assume that I came here to keep up the picture? So I can tell my friends over coffee tomorrow that I´ve been here to see you and to make sure you have everything you need and that it will all be sorted out in no time and back to like it´s supposed to be? Do you know what I told the kids? That you were on a medical conference in Philadelphia. There you go- it´s all about keeping up appearances. No emotions involved.”
Rex didn´t answer for a moment, he was feeling insecure now- when he had accused his wife of being emotionless he hadn´t really meant it that way, he had meant to express that she wasn´t showing emotions, that she was shutting him out.
What if her behaviour wasn´t an attempt to keep up a perfect façade, what if she actually was feeling indifferent about him, about their life together?
What if all she wanted was for him to move back home so she could send him off to work again with his lunch back and in his expensive suits and crisp shirts, a trophy to show off in front of the neighbours, the jigsaw puzzle piece that completed her cliché of a perfect life? What if she really didn´t care?
He felt his wife´s eyes on him and looked up, studying her beautiful face.
She looked very much like she had twenty years before, except form some small lines around her eyes- her eyes had changed though, the girlish innocence and carelessness had been replaced by a deeply melancholic, almost sad expression and that expression was what assured Rex that she did care after all.
It also told him that this would be much more complicated that he had thought- they hadn´t really talked to each other for so long he could hardly remember how to do it- he didn´t know who she was these days, he somehow had missed her changing into the woman sitting in front of him and once he had realized this he had given up on showing interest in further changes and developments and instead concentrated on other things.
If he got into this conversation with Bree now he would have to get to know her first- it would cost so much energy and perhaps it would all be for nothing- it most likely would be.
He wondered how Bree felt about it, she must be thinking along similar lines, he hadn´t opened up to her lately as well and she must be as unfamiliar with him as he was with her. “Why do you say that?”
“Isn´t that what you wanted to hear?”
“Well, I-“
“I thought you´d like to blame it all on me, so I wanted to make it easier for you.”
She didn´t look angry, she was just looking at him with an almost neutral expression on her face and Rex nodded.
“Ok, I get your point- so what are we going to do?”
Bree shrugged, absentmindedly playing with her engagement ring.
She watched the huge diamond catch the lamplight for a moment, then said “I don´t know, is there anything we can do anymore?”
Rex slowly began to realize that she actually hadn´t come here to persuade him to come home with her- and that other than he had thought she wasn´t keen on just having him back, the only way she would have him again was for them to find a way to actually make it work again- and as far as Rex was concerned that was near impossible.