The One Where The Lines Get Kinda Blurry

The One With The Survival Kit

A/N - First of all thank you so much for the continued support! I'm so glad to have so many lovely people reading and commenting, although I do wonder how we are already over 50 chapters in! Now, and please don't hate me for this, I have decided (with the help of some very dear friends - thanks so much girls - I love you all!) that since my goal when I began writing this story was to try and keep it as realistic and viable as possible, certain things have to happen that I realise will not be popular. All I will say is, please know that I have their very best interests at heart and I promise that they will be smiling by the end, whenever that may be! So thank you again and now back to the story.......

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Jen sat in stunned silence for a few moments as the puzzle pieces of information she had floating about her brain all began to fit together into one giant picture. Of course, it all started to make sense now. The woman sat opposite handed her a tissue as the tears began to fall down her shocked face. She had always known something like this would happen. She had stepped into her marriage with her eyes wide open, expecting it to fail. No. Knowing it would fail. Part of her wanted to scream and shout and cry, but another part of her felt hugely relieved, because at least now she could escape from her marriage knowing that actually, they were both getting what they really wanted. It was quite ironic really, the sudden stab of hurt she was experiencing in her heart right now was the exact thing she was trying to prevent Brad from having to go through.

She realised she hadn't said a word and all eyes in the room were firmly on her. She had no idea what to say. She opened her mouth but nothing came out except for a loud sob as she buried her head in her hands and lost control. The fear, the relief, the shock...... and the torment and pain which she knew she had no real right to feel since she herself had been playing the same illicit game, albeit significantly more discretely. But she did feel it. It resonated deep inside her and she was jarred by that. She flinched as an arm fell gently around her shoulders whilst she continued to weep uncontrollably for what seemed like an eternity. She finally raised her head and was greeted by the same five pairs of eyes, silently focused on her, waiting, watching..... judging. She took a few deep breaths. She willed her heart to stop racing. She forced herself to sit upright. She had to face up to this. She had to be professional. She must save the emotion for when she got home, wherever and whatever that might be now. She cleared her throat, gulped twice.... and finally, she spoke.

"How sure are you?" She almost didn't recognise the steely toned voice that came from her mouth.

"I wouldn't have said anything to you if I wasn't completely sure. I was hoping to shield you from this for a little while longer yet, whilst I got the facts straightened out and gathered more evidence, but obviously you must have already sensed enough of it yourself hence your disclosure today, and why I felt no choice but to tell you now" said the woman whose arm was still snaked around her shoulders, notably uncomfortable at being the person to be breaking this devastating news. "There are pictures of them together behind the scenes, far away from the cameras, acting all... well, let's just say they look like a very romantically involved couple. I haven't seen them yet but I am pretty sure we will soon. We will do everything we can to avoid them getting out just yet but it will happen. The thing is......." she hesitated as she glanced across to the others in the room, seeking visual reassurance from them before she continued, ".... the thing is Jen, and this is where it is going to get even harder to swallow, I am going to request that for now at least you do and say nothing about any of this. Say nothing to anyone..... and yes, I'm afraid that incudes Brad."

Jen's head snapped round to glare at the woman whose arm swiftly dropped from around her shoulders and drew her body sharply away. "You suggest what?"

"Look, I appreciate this is a bolt from the blue right now, and we will schedule another meeting to discuss all this in greater detail early next week once you've had time to process all these revelations. But I am going to have to ask you to trust me on this." She took hold of Jen's hands in hers as she carried on speaking. "This is going to be huge. You have no idea just what is about to hit you, publicly and personally. It is going to be absolutely brutal. You are going to get hurt more than you could possibly imagine. Every single shred of your private life is going to be dragged into the public realm. The media will go crazy over this. There will be paparazzi following your every single footstep, every single day; everywhere you go; morning, noon and night. You think you have it bad now? Just you wait until this news breaks. And it will break, there is no way to prevent that I'm afraid. And it is my job to make sure that you are protected as much as possible, and that your image and your credibility remain untarnished, because that, my dear, is what you pay me for..... and because that is what I do best."