The other woman

A little understanding

Alex had decided to leave them to it. Having agreed for Seb to speak to his wife as well, she didn't want to be in the room while he told them, she couldn't bear the pitying looks she'd have got. Instead she'd gone outside to spend a little time walking around his large back garden. The space and quietness gave her time to reflect on what had just happened today. She'd told Seb almost everything. He now knew that Soren had hit her, knew that he'd beaten and kicked her, causing her to miscarry their first child and knew that Soren could be as gentle and loving as he was abusive and evil. That was all he needed to know. He'd be up in his office right now, persuading Britta and Gisela to let her stay. He was up there supporting her and fighting her corner for her. He'd chipped away at her armour and chiselled away at the icy exterior of her heart. He was getting under her skin and starting to mean something to her. Destroying his marriage and walking away to leave him with a broken home was starting to feel more and more wrong. Seb was different.

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He sat up his desk observing the two women sat in the chairs in front of him. In the end he'd told them more than he'd originally wanted to, including Alex's own parents disowning her, and re-telling it had been as difficult for him as it was for Britta and Gisela to hear it.

Gisela had given a sad shake of her head. Having children of her own with Seb, she could only imagine the heartache and grief that Alex had endured with her miscarriages and knowing that Soren had caused one of them made her feel sick and hold Xiomar even tighter. The kids and her husband now felt even more precious to her, this had been a wake up call and a reminder of just how fortunate she was. She had a completely different view of Alex now. Knowing the abuse that she'd suffered over the period of six years, Gisela now thought Alex was a warrior and not a threat. Everything made sense; from her distant and offhand demeanour to the day she'd met the kids and couldn't get out of the house quick enough. She felt awful about the way she'd been with Alex just lately, the woman needed friends and not enemies.

Britta too felt awful. She felt so ashamed. Like Gisela; everything about Alex now made sense. Alex had learnt to build up this shield around her; Soren was the reason why she kept her life so compartmentalised, why she'd never let Seb become a friend and why she had never gelled as part of a team like Heikki and Antti before her. Alex had been unable to trust anyone, even her own family, and the man who had claimed to love her had beaten her, killed her baby and ground her down. No woman should ever have to deal with the things that Alex had, no one deserved to be physically and emotionally abused and Britta found Alex's tale hard to stomach and very upsetting. She wiped away her tears; it wasn't often that Seb saw her cry but she just couldn't stop herself, she just felt so much for Alex. But she told herself that things would change now; Alex had finally let Seb get closer to her, she'd let him become a friend, one who would support her and look out for her and Britta intended on getting closer to Alex too. They could be a team now and that could only be a huge benefit to Seb as well as Alex as the season progressed.

"So you both get why she's staying on, yeah?" Seb asked as he looked at the two emotional women in front of him. "She's still the best PT for me, I'm sure of it but also I'm not prepared to send her away to fall back into his clutch. If he gets to her again, he'll kill her."

Britta glanced at a silent Gisela, noticing the way she was clutching tightly onto Xiomar, it made her want to cry even more. She nodded tearfully to Seb, Alex had her backing from now on.

He slipped off of the desk and bent to put a hand on Britta's shoulder to comfort her. "Hey, come on, don't get upset. She'll be back in a minute and she's already insisted that she doesn't want anyone's pity. You're to act normal with her, ok?"

"I just feel so awful." She sniffed, tightening her grip on the notepad that was sitting in her lap.

"You weren't to know what she's been through, none of us did. We all just thought that that's how Alex is but she's strong, she's a fighter, she'll be ok."