Dempeo: The Whole Truth

Chapter 14

"Ellen is a dream. She's kind and sincere and as soon as I met her I fell in love with her"- Patrick Dempsey

His head was throbbing when he woke up, the memories from last night rushing back to him, he closed his eyes, sighing through his nose. What the hell had he done? How was he going to face Ellen after the incident in the elevator? How differently would the night have gone if he had done what Ellen had wanted? Would he have been waking up in her bed instead?

He got changed into a casual pair of jeans and a t-shirt, he wasn't filming today but he was meant to be watching Ellen and TR film. He heard a knock on the door, it must be Ellie, no one else would be knocking on his door this early. His mind was racing with possibilities as he opened the door, "Do you feel any better than I do? I don't know how I'm going to get anything done with this headache" she complained, barging her way through the door and sitting on his bed. "I mean I don't feel great but I'm not the one filming today" he said, unsure of where the conversation was headed. He sat next to her on the bed and said "Ellie, don't you think we should talk about last night", "What about last night?" she replied. Surely she could remember what happened, the kiss in the elevator was all that he could think about. Maybe she just didn't want to talk about it and didn't want to acknowledge what had happened. Maybe that was the smart thing to do, either way he replied "Don't worry, nothing happened".

✦✦✦

"Daddy!" Talula said running up to him as he walked through the door, "Hey baby girl, do you want to see what Ellie bought you?" he said while picking her up. "Yes!" she squealed, Jill walked up to them just as he had put her down and started ruffling through his bag. "We missed you" she said looking down at him, he couldn't look her in the eye, not after what he had done, not that he and Ellen hadn't done anything worse while filming because they had been in far more intimate positions. "I missed you guys too" he responded without raising his eyes, finally he found it, the small seattle t-shirt Ellen had bought for his daughter. She had gone out with TR for a couple hours, sightseeing she had called it, and had come back with a bag of souvenirs and a tiny pink t-shirt for Tee. He picked it up out of the bag and showed Talula who took it beamed, "That was nice of Ellen" Jill said, for the first time in almost a week he looked up at his wife. She looked almost exactly the same as the day he had met her, having hardly aged over the past decade, he tried to think how this had all gone so wrong. He knew that Jill hadn't changed, she was still the same beautiful woman who he had fallen in love with, but it was him, he no longer craved the routine that Jill provided but instead the thrill that Ellen gave him. Little things between them had changed, no one but Jill had touched his hair since they met but now he got his hair cut on set. They used to eat dinner together every night but now he couldn't remember the last time he had eaten a single meal with her, he couldn't remember the last time he had eaten a meal without Ellen. It seemed as though his life had done a one-eighty, nothing was the same as it had been that time the year before.

✦✦✦

"Are you ready to have some fun" Ellen said, flicking her golden hair over her shoulder. He shook his head smiling at her as he took her hand, "I can already tell that you are going to get us into way too much trouble" he said. "It's called a pre party for a reason" she said laughing, it was true, the pre Emmy party was bound to be fun. The rest of the cast was going to be meeting them there and they had both decided that they wouldn't bring either Chris or Jill. It was probably a mistake, their partners provided an obvious buffer between them, but the Emmys were the next night and they'd both be accompanying them. "Let's go take photos Paddy" she said tugging on his sleeve, he smiled and followed her up to the press wall. They smiled for the paparazzi, Ellen's arms wrapped around his neck and his around her waist. "I think that we should go get a drink" he whispered in her ear, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear. She smiled at him, mischief glinting in her eye as she took his hand again and they walked off to find the bar. On the way they bumped into a taller man, he immediately recognised him as Jake Gyllenhaal, Ellen's co-star from Moonlight Mile. They talked for a while, his hand still firmly around Ellen's, he could tell that there might have been something between them, not in the way that Ellen acted but the way that Jake did. To his satisfaction Ellen only stepped closer to him when Jake put his hand on her arm, she then proceeded to excuse the both of them and drag them to the wine.

He didn't know how he had ended up quite so drunk, he wasn't as young as he used to be and had still felt the effects of his previous hangover that morning. He could feel Ellen swaying in front of him, the curves of her small body turning to face him. He didn't know whether it was the alcohol or the close proximity of the hot and sweaty bodies around him, but the need to touch her was overwhelming. They were in a dark corner, nobody was paying much attention to them, there was always going to be someone more famous than them to focus on, and right now he was thankful for it. He placed his hands on her waist, drawing her back against his chest, he felt her lean into him, the back of her head resting against him. "This is cosy" he murmured, he brought his lips to the smooth skin behind her ear, kissing it softly before nipping her ear lobe. She arched her back, letting out a breath though those perfect parted lips. Why did she have to be so god damn irresistible all of the time. He moved his lips down her neck, remembering the exact spot that had driven her crazy in the shower, sucking lightly. He could feel her react in his arms, holding back whatever it was that she wanted to do before whispering "Paddy, not here, not now, not like this". She still leant into him, moving against him with the rhythm of the music, she needed to stop doing that if she wanted him to stop. Did she know just how crazy she drove him? "Maybe we should go home, it's late and we've drunk too much and we have to present tomorrow" he rambled. She turned around in his arms, she reached up and brushed his cheek, he closed his eyes, leaning into her hand. "I think that's a good idea" she said, looking up at him with those big green eyes, taking his hand as they weaved through the crowd.