Fault Lines (R,M,L)

He and Maeve stared at each other, both breathing heavily as he kept her inches from the ground.

“Richard,” she started. “Please put me down.”

He nodded, gently setting her on the floor. She sat up, crossing her arms before she grew self-conscious at how it made her chest sit and lowered her hands back into her lap.

“Thank you for catching me. I know that you both enjoy this, but I think that I am done dancing.”

Richard nodded and reached down to help her up, which she gingerly accepted. “I’m so sorry, I should have been more careful.”

Dr.Petrov raised an eyebrow as she moved a hand to his side. “Do you think that apology feels accurate, or would you like to try again? Think about what we’ve been working on.”

He tried again. “”I’m sorry it happened. Are you alright?”

“Yes, I appreciate you trying so hard to catch me. I asked you to try that because I don’t think it was any one person’s fault, but we may have moved faster than either of us were ready for.”

“To be fair, there were easier ways I could have shown you.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Luna sucked in a breath, worried about the answer.

“I only practiced the one way. It was the flashiest option Hazel showed me, and I just did it every time.”

She exhaled, for once grateful that it wasn’t something pervy. Approaching the two, she directed her question to Maeve. “Was there anything else you wanted to do today before dinner?”

“Would either of you mind if I made another quick stop at the library?”

“That’s fine. Right, Dick?”

“Of course.”

Maeve’s hand was still tucked into his side. He tried to move her hand subtly away, and when it tried to move back into place he ended up taking a backstep out of reach. His therapist frowned for a moment as if trying to figure out a mental disconnect before deciding to just move on.

She led them outside and through the short walk in the forest to the library. From there they ended up splitting up. Maeve retreated down the main hallway on the left. He and Luna both went towards the right before splitting up.

That could have gone a lot better. But it probably could’ve gone a lot worse, too. He looked around a little at what genre he had ended up in. Maybe I should’ve asked Luna what kind of things they’ve done together. It’s a pity I don’t have the same ability to put in new buildings that the others do. I don’t know what I would've done with it for her yet, but… I’m sure I could’ve thought of something better.

He looked around the shelves, trying to decide whether there was anything that stuck out to him. Once he found something he went back to the doorway and found Luna already there.

“What’d you find?” She asked.

He read her the title. “Algonqua and the Beaver War: How the Great Lakes States Split.”

“Fun.”

“How about you?”

She showed him the cover, which had a woman on a throne. On the steps before her lay half a dozen shirtless men. The embossed title read The Empress’s Orders.

“Are you reading harem smut here?”

“What’s wrong with that?” She raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, aren’t you already living that?”

“Kind of, but not really.” His best friend shrugged, not explaining any further.

He was tempted to press her on what that meant when he saw Maeve coming back out of the corner of his eye. She was hugging a paperback tightly to her chest.

“Where did you want to go for dinner?” Maeve asked. The question was directed at both and neither of them.

“Back to my place, if you don’t mind.” He opened the door for his date and Luna and followed them through, leading them back through the short walk past the dining hall and to his home for the season. He showed them into the kitchen, Maeve taking a moment to leave her book on the nightstand in the bedroom before joining them both.

“Is Stella catering again tonight? I apologize, I haven’t coordinated that with Genet like I had last time.”

“Nope.” He’d started collecting things from the pantry like Stella had shown him.

“Then…”

“I’ll be handling dinner tonight. You won’t need to worry about a thing.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I wasn’t aware you could, but I shouldn’t have assumed it would have come up in our sessions.”

“No, you’re right actually.” He stopped explaining for a moment to pour the bag of rice into the ceramic pan. “I can’t do much, but I’m trying to get better. Stella and I have been using our days together for lessons.” He opened the package of mushrooms and started chopping them like his friend had taught him.

“That’s certainly admirable.”

“Did Aubrey do most of the cooking on your first time together?” Luna asked.

“She’d do it every once in a while, but neither of us were really comfortable in the kitchen. I’d normally just order takeout every day back when we were living together.”

“So if neither of you cooked, how did you distribute chores back then?” The lawyer questioned.

Could be a little more subtle there, Loon. He thought to himself. “I always did the laundry. Everything else we had a chore chart for.” He answered as he spread out the coined sized mushroom slices on top of the dry rice. Am I doing this right? He brought it over to the table for advice. “Does this look even?”

“Yeah, that looks fine.” Luna assured him.

“I know you offered to do everything yourself, but do you need any help?” Maeve asked.

“I think I’m fine for now?”

“Let me know if anything comes up and you have questions.” She assured him as she brushed back her silver hair.

“I will, thanks.” After trying to add what he hoped was the right amount of butter, he put the dish in the oven to cook like Stella had shown him. Hopefully I didn’t forget anything.

He turned back to them. “How hungry are either of you? I can wait a bit, or I can just ask the oven to just skip forward in time and I can prep the rest quickly.”

“I was actually going to head out once you two were eating to see what the others were up to, so you really don’t need to consider me.” Luna answered, looking to Maeve to encourage her to answer.

“I suppose I’m pretty hungry.” Maeve admitted. Her appetite felt like it had increased since her first transformation at the beginning of the show. But this would feel easier if you stayed longer…

“Sounds good. I’ll try to get started on the chicken.”

“Is there anything else you plan on making?”

“Probably some green beans? I know it needs a vegetable.”

“Would you mind roast broccoli instead?”

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure I know how to do that,” he admitted. His face burned with embarrassment.

“I can help with that, if it’s alright.”

“I- yes. I’m sorry.”

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for. I asked you to change your plan.” His therapist rose and left where she’d been sitting with Luna to help. “Would you mind helping me find a few things? This is my first time cooking since we came here and I’m afraid I still don’t fully understand how the cabinets and fridge work.”

He nodded, and retrieved the ingredients she asked for after she listed them for him. They started to work side by side together as he worked on the meat and she got the vegetables ready for the oven.

“Have you heard anything about how HB 43 is doing in the Senate?” Luna asked.

“No, I can’t say I’ve had a chance to check recently.”

“You know what I mean.”

He sighed. “Yeah, I do. None of my attempts to check on it have given me anything, I’m a little worried it might sit in committee until the session ends and Haffley will make us start over again if we survive the midterms.”

Maeve cleared her throat. She’d just put the broccoli in the oven and was having trouble keeping up with the conversation. “Would someone be able to explain what ‘HB 43’ means?”

“Sure.” He added a bit more olive oil to his pan. “Bills have specific letters and a set of numbers in their name. HB is for anything that started in the House, and the numbers are the order bills are introduced in the chamber. So HB 43 has its name because when Luna and I introduced it, it was the forty-third bill in the House that year.”

“I see. And what does it do?”

“Oh, sorry. It would expand federal parental leave protections to adoptions of children under the age of four.”

“That’s…” His date trailed off into silence, eyeing Luna to think about whether there was a particular reason she’d brought up the bill.

They finished working together, and after he’d asked the oven to finish and Maeve had started setting the table Luna took it as her cue to leave.

“Have fun, both of you.” The Latina kissed Maeve, then Dick on the cheek. “I’ll probably see both of you tomorrow. Let me know if anything comes up before then.”

They sat down to eat an early dinner, Maeve saying nothing more until they heard the click of the front door closing in the hall.

“Did you tell her to ask those questions?” She inquired. “They felt specific.”

“No.”

“Good. I didn’t think-”

“But she told me she would.” He admitted. He knew he shouldn’t have interrupted her just as she seemed to be calming down, but he wouldn’t have been able to live with keeping it a secret.

“Did she tell you why?”

“I asked, but she wouldn’t tell me.”

“All she’d tell me was that she wanted to remind you that I was a good man.”

“And I’ve never doubted that.” She promised him. “I appreciate the line I can see you’ve tried to straddle today. But this… has been a harder day for me than last time. Is there anything you need from me right now?”

“No. No, I don’t need to bother you with anything else.”

“It wouldn’t have been a bother. Do you mind if we eat in silence? I’d like to take a shower after your dance lesson earlier, and hopefully take some time to think about things.”

He nodded, and they finished their meal in silence.

***

He’d finished getting ready for bed when she finally came into the bedroom. She’d- wow, can’t think about that too much. She was in a towel she’d wrapped around herself. It revealed less than the dress had when she’d been wearing it an hour ago, but it was still more intimate. He thought that part of the feeling may have been from seeing her without her glasses, although the simple choice of her not having put her hair back up may have been part of it as well.

“May I speak?” Maeve asked. “I’d prefer for you not to respond, at least right now. There’s things that I think should be said, but I don’t know if I can handle further discussion tonight.

What could be this bad? “Go ahead. Say whatever you need to.”

“I respect you. I always have. You are kind, gentle, and conscientious. You misjudge people quite often, but almost always in their favor. You make mistakes, but you admit them. You claim credit for mistakes you did not make, which we still need to work on but I understand. If I was looking for faults to tell someone of, I would find nothing that does not hurt you most.

“This place and Genet want to drive us together. Romantically, sexually. We discussed that the last night I spent with you. We discussed the power dynamics at play and the need to end our working relationship if we ever had more than that.

“Luna clearly thinks that I should accept what Genet wants. I don’t know how subtle she thinks she was, but it became undeniable by the time we all were in your kitchen. I’m not sure I understand why, but I see that it was happening.

“I still disagree. I…” She swallowed a breath. “I’m not sure what it might be like for me. But I don’t think it would be good for you. What I said last time, about how it would be easier to keep myself to an advisory role? That’s still true, and I hope you understand. I know I asked you not to respond right away, so if I said enough just nod.”

He slowly nodded, trying to make sense of the place her monologue had ended up.

“Thank you.” She stepped out of the doorway and left for several minutes. When she came back, she had exchanged the robe for one of her nightgowns and her glasses were back on. Her hair was still damp, and so she had yet to return it to the bun that he always saw her keep her hair contained in. She smiled at him as she sat down in bed next to him, taking the book he could now identify as Lady Susan from the nightstand she’d left it on earlier.

What do I do? He asked himself. “I-” He tried to look for the right words. But everything just offered him the dull ringing of Window Pain. Every instinct told him to do something, to not be so lazy and try to help with the anxiety she’d had earlier. But as the ringing continued to bring doubt to his assumptions until he stopped. Stella needs silence sometimes too, as much as it’s hard for me. Maybe that’s just what I need to do now too. He laid down with his own book he’d found in the library and they read in silence. Together.