One Day at a Time, Chapter Six -- Desperate Housewives
One Day at a Time
Chapter Six
Fandom: Desperate Housewives
Pairing: Bree/Katherine
Rating: PG-13, at least at the moment
Format: Chaptered
Summary: Katherine moves in with Bree to help her quit drinking, and learns there are a few things she herself could use help with as well.
Note: Work-in-progress.
Five days later Bree is sitting in her living room with an unopened bottle of chardonnay in her hands, wondering whether or not she is going to pull the cork.
Katherine's out. She's supposed to be out for another hour or so. If Katherine comes home before Bree has decided, Katherine will make the decision for her. Bree wonders if that's what she wants. She wonders if she wants anything at all anymore.
Well, no, that's not true. She wants the alcohol.
She'd have to get a corkscrew to open it though. She's not sure she wants to get up.
So she stares at the bottle, which currently contains one option for the entirety of the rest of her life. If she opens the bottle she will know exactly who she will be and what she will do until her life is over: she will drink and pass out and drink and pass out and eventually she will either choke on her own vomit or die of alcohol poisoning or kill off her liver and the rest of her with it. That's what will happen if she summons the energy to go get the corkscrew. She considers the possibility. Mostly it just makes her feel tired. She can't even begin to think about what the other options might be though.
Orson found out today.
Not about her drinking. He found out something more fundamental though. He found out that Benjy's gone.
He blames her.
Of course he blames her. Who else is there to blame? Bree would like to blame Danielle, but there's hardly any point. Over the years Bree has had to accept that her daughter, no matter how much Bree loves her, is a human being who is so fundamentally incapable of considering other people's wants and needs that there is absolutely no use in expecting her to act on behalf of anyone other than herself. Danielle turned a corner in her life where she happened to want Benjamin back; therefore, Danielle took Benjamin back, and to hell with whatever wreckage she left in her wake. Bree could more easily blame God himself for putting that whim in Danielle's head than she could blame Danielle for acting on it.
No, the only person to blame in that situation was Bree. In Orson's view, she should have done whatever it would take to keep custody of Benjamin, up to and including kneecapping Danielle and locking her up in the basement with no food or water until she promised to leave Benjy with Bree. Well, that's certainly what Orson's mother would have done. It's no surprise that he'd expect no less from his wife.
She'd always known on some level that this was how it would go, and that's why she hadn't told him before now. It was so much easier to talk about airy nothings when she visited Orson. She told herself it would be cruel to tell him, on top of everything else. She told herself she would get Benjamin back sometime -- surely Danielle would tire of parenting Benjamin once she discovered that there was hard work involved? -- and she would never need to tell Orson at all. She told herself any lies she could think of that would justify keeping this from Orson, because she had lost damn near everything that meant anything to her and she wasn't prepared to lose Orson too.
But today she'd gone to visit him, and he'd asked how Benjamin was doing, and instead of adopting a cheerful tone to tell a cheerful lie, she'd started weeping. And he'd gotten her to tell him what had really happened.
He'd told her to leave. And he'd told her not to come back.
So she'd left. And if she wasn't coming back, there really wasn't any reason at all not to stop at the liquor store to buy a bottle of wine. Actually she'd bought six. Why not? When Katherine had first talked her into sobriety, after all, she'd persuaded Bree that the woman she had become was not the woman she wanted Orson to come home to. If Orson wasn't coming home, who gave a shit?
That thought is pretty much enough to make up her mind, so she begins to stand up to go get the corkscrew. Then she hears a key rattling in the lock on the front door. Oh, dear. Katherine's back.
Bree knows she ought to try to hide the alcohol, at least -- she might be able to shove it under the sofa cushion or something and avoid the scene that's coming -- but why bother? Katherine might as well know now what happened and where things stand. She'll find the other five bottles within thirty seconds anyway, when she goes to put away the groceries she'd been out buying. Bree hadn't even bothered to hide the wine this time. It's right there in the fridge.
By the time the door swings open Bree's looking at the bottle again, so she misses Katherine's expression. There's a long moment when Bree is looking at the bottle and Katherine, she supposes, is looking at her. There's a slight rustling noise. Katherine probably put down the bag of groceries she was holding. The whole thing feels a little anticlimactic.
When Katherine eventually crosses the room and removes the bottle from Bree's hands, Bree does look up at her. What she finds in Katherine's face isn't what she expected. She'd expected anger, disappointment, sarcasm -- all things she'd seen in Katherine's face before as she tried to drag Bree into reluctant sobriety. This wasn't any of those things. Actually Katherine looks like she is in shock. That isn't a reaction that makes a lot of sense to Bree.
When she speaks, her voice is shaking just a little. And what she says -- "How could you do this to me?" -- doesn't make a lot of sense to Bree either.
"You have no right," she says. "You --" The thing seething in her voice and just beneath the surface of her face is about to break through. A wave of exhaustion sweeps through Bree as she senses the prospect of a big emotional scene. She has absolutely zero energy for that right now.
But then Katherine's expression clicks shut like a trap. "You know what?" she says. And she puts the bottle back in Bree's hands. "Do whatever the fuck you want. I'm through with this."
And she walks out the door. And ironically, that's the thing that jerks Bree back to life.
She'd been wrong about having lost everything. She'd still had Katherine. She'd had something to fight for, and she'd known that the one single thing she needed to do to keep Katherine in her life was to stay the hell away from the wine.
What had she been thinking?
And -- oh, God -- what is she going to do now?
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five (previous chapter)
Chapter Seven (next chapter)
Chapter Six
Fandom: Desperate Housewives
Pairing: Bree/Katherine
Rating: PG-13, at least at the moment
Format: Chaptered
Summary: Katherine moves in with Bree to help her quit drinking, and learns there are a few things she herself could use help with as well.
Note: Work-in-progress.
Five days later Bree is sitting in her living room with an unopened bottle of chardonnay in her hands, wondering whether or not she is going to pull the cork.
Katherine's out. She's supposed to be out for another hour or so. If Katherine comes home before Bree has decided, Katherine will make the decision for her. Bree wonders if that's what she wants. She wonders if she wants anything at all anymore.
Well, no, that's not true. She wants the alcohol.
She'd have to get a corkscrew to open it though. She's not sure she wants to get up.
So she stares at the bottle, which currently contains one option for the entirety of the rest of her life. If she opens the bottle she will know exactly who she will be and what she will do until her life is over: she will drink and pass out and drink and pass out and eventually she will either choke on her own vomit or die of alcohol poisoning or kill off her liver and the rest of her with it. That's what will happen if she summons the energy to go get the corkscrew. She considers the possibility. Mostly it just makes her feel tired. She can't even begin to think about what the other options might be though.
Orson found out today.
Not about her drinking. He found out something more fundamental though. He found out that Benjy's gone.
He blames her.
Of course he blames her. Who else is there to blame? Bree would like to blame Danielle, but there's hardly any point. Over the years Bree has had to accept that her daughter, no matter how much Bree loves her, is a human being who is so fundamentally incapable of considering other people's wants and needs that there is absolutely no use in expecting her to act on behalf of anyone other than herself. Danielle turned a corner in her life where she happened to want Benjamin back; therefore, Danielle took Benjamin back, and to hell with whatever wreckage she left in her wake. Bree could more easily blame God himself for putting that whim in Danielle's head than she could blame Danielle for acting on it.
No, the only person to blame in that situation was Bree. In Orson's view, she should have done whatever it would take to keep custody of Benjamin, up to and including kneecapping Danielle and locking her up in the basement with no food or water until she promised to leave Benjy with Bree. Well, that's certainly what Orson's mother would have done. It's no surprise that he'd expect no less from his wife.
She'd always known on some level that this was how it would go, and that's why she hadn't told him before now. It was so much easier to talk about airy nothings when she visited Orson. She told herself it would be cruel to tell him, on top of everything else. She told herself she would get Benjamin back sometime -- surely Danielle would tire of parenting Benjamin once she discovered that there was hard work involved? -- and she would never need to tell Orson at all. She told herself any lies she could think of that would justify keeping this from Orson, because she had lost damn near everything that meant anything to her and she wasn't prepared to lose Orson too.
But today she'd gone to visit him, and he'd asked how Benjamin was doing, and instead of adopting a cheerful tone to tell a cheerful lie, she'd started weeping. And he'd gotten her to tell him what had really happened.
He'd told her to leave. And he'd told her not to come back.
So she'd left. And if she wasn't coming back, there really wasn't any reason at all not to stop at the liquor store to buy a bottle of wine. Actually she'd bought six. Why not? When Katherine had first talked her into sobriety, after all, she'd persuaded Bree that the woman she had become was not the woman she wanted Orson to come home to. If Orson wasn't coming home, who gave a shit?
That thought is pretty much enough to make up her mind, so she begins to stand up to go get the corkscrew. Then she hears a key rattling in the lock on the front door. Oh, dear. Katherine's back.
Bree knows she ought to try to hide the alcohol, at least -- she might be able to shove it under the sofa cushion or something and avoid the scene that's coming -- but why bother? Katherine might as well know now what happened and where things stand. She'll find the other five bottles within thirty seconds anyway, when she goes to put away the groceries she'd been out buying. Bree hadn't even bothered to hide the wine this time. It's right there in the fridge.
By the time the door swings open Bree's looking at the bottle again, so she misses Katherine's expression. There's a long moment when Bree is looking at the bottle and Katherine, she supposes, is looking at her. There's a slight rustling noise. Katherine probably put down the bag of groceries she was holding. The whole thing feels a little anticlimactic.
When Katherine eventually crosses the room and removes the bottle from Bree's hands, Bree does look up at her. What she finds in Katherine's face isn't what she expected. She'd expected anger, disappointment, sarcasm -- all things she'd seen in Katherine's face before as she tried to drag Bree into reluctant sobriety. This wasn't any of those things. Actually Katherine looks like she is in shock. That isn't a reaction that makes a lot of sense to Bree.
When she speaks, her voice is shaking just a little. And what she says -- "How could you do this to me?" -- doesn't make a lot of sense to Bree either.
"You have no right," she says. "You --" The thing seething in her voice and just beneath the surface of her face is about to break through. A wave of exhaustion sweeps through Bree as she senses the prospect of a big emotional scene. She has absolutely zero energy for that right now.
But then Katherine's expression clicks shut like a trap. "You know what?" she says. And she puts the bottle back in Bree's hands. "Do whatever the fuck you want. I'm through with this."
And she walks out the door. And ironically, that's the thing that jerks Bree back to life.
She'd been wrong about having lost everything. She'd still had Katherine. She'd had something to fight for, and she'd known that the one single thing she needed to do to keep Katherine in her life was to stay the hell away from the wine.
What had she been thinking?
And -- oh, God -- what is she going to do now?
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five (previous chapter)
Chapter Seven (next chapter)