(TM) 242. Bad News and Worse Fallout
Write about a time that you were the bearer of bad news.
Carolanne stared at the neat stack of paper on the table in front of her. "What the frak is this?"
Bill took a long sip of coffee to brace himself. "That should be pretty obvious."
Early as it was, her hand held a tumbler half-full of ambrosia, and he watched her fingers tighten on it as she read aloud, "Joint Petition, Agreement, and Judgment and Decree for Marriage Dissolution With Children."
Her smile was as tight as her grip on the glass, and far less genuine in emotion. "So that's why you were so enthusiastic about having the boys visit their grandfather this weekend. Gods forbid you should actually have to deal with them, after all."
Bill's jaw clenched, but his voice stayed level. "I didn't think Lee and Zak needed to be in the middle of this ... talk." And if said talk degenerates into a fight, it won't be because of me. "I'll speak to them when they get back, try to explain things."
"Explain?!" Carolanne knocked back half of her drink before continuing, her voice taking on an even harsher edge. "That'll be a neat trick, explaining to two young boys that they and their mother don't matter worth a damn to their father any more. Can't wait to see how Husker Adama pulls off that maneuver!"
"That's not true!" Damn it, she was pushing his buttons again, but it wasn't-- he wasn't-- "You don't want me here, Carolanne. You make that more and more obvious every time I come home!"
"Don't tell me what I want!!!" He had to flinch to one side to avoid the glass she threw; it flew past to take out the mirror hanging on the wall. She drowned out the crash of shattering glass as she yelled, "Years of marriage, years of following you around from base to base after my family got you back in the frakking fleet! I gave up everything for you and the boys, and now that's not good enough anymore?! You've been running away in slow motion for years, and now you're finally out the door, frakking bastard coward!!!"
Bill retreated into stony silence as Carolanne's excoriation went on and on and on. He knew by the simple fact that she hadn't already shoved the petition in the garbage that she'd eventually sign ... but not before she extracted her verbal pound of flesh. Her punishment.
He thought about their years of marriage. He thought about Lee and Zak.
He probably deserved it.
Muse: Admiral William Adama
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica '03
Word count: 416
Carolanne stared at the neat stack of paper on the table in front of her. "What the frak is this?"
Bill took a long sip of coffee to brace himself. "That should be pretty obvious."
Early as it was, her hand held a tumbler half-full of ambrosia, and he watched her fingers tighten on it as she read aloud, "Joint Petition, Agreement, and Judgment and Decree for Marriage Dissolution With Children."
Her smile was as tight as her grip on the glass, and far less genuine in emotion. "So that's why you were so enthusiastic about having the boys visit their grandfather this weekend. Gods forbid you should actually have to deal with them, after all."
Bill's jaw clenched, but his voice stayed level. "I didn't think Lee and Zak needed to be in the middle of this ... talk." And if said talk degenerates into a fight, it won't be because of me. "I'll speak to them when they get back, try to explain things."
"Explain?!" Carolanne knocked back half of her drink before continuing, her voice taking on an even harsher edge. "That'll be a neat trick, explaining to two young boys that they and their mother don't matter worth a damn to their father any more. Can't wait to see how Husker Adama pulls off that maneuver!"
"That's not true!" Damn it, she was pushing his buttons again, but it wasn't-- he wasn't-- "You don't want me here, Carolanne. You make that more and more obvious every time I come home!"
"Don't tell me what I want!!!" He had to flinch to one side to avoid the glass she threw; it flew past to take out the mirror hanging on the wall. She drowned out the crash of shattering glass as she yelled, "Years of marriage, years of following you around from base to base after my family got you back in the frakking fleet! I gave up everything for you and the boys, and now that's not good enough anymore?! You've been running away in slow motion for years, and now you're finally out the door, frakking bastard coward!!!"
Bill retreated into stony silence as Carolanne's excoriation went on and on and on. He knew by the simple fact that she hadn't already shoved the petition in the garbage that she'd eventually sign ... but not before she extracted her verbal pound of flesh. Her punishment.
He thought about their years of marriage. He thought about Lee and Zak.
He probably deserved it.
Muse: Admiral William Adama
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica '03
Word count: 416