Dreams of Stars (A Once Upon a Time/Jiminy Cricket fanfic)

Dreams of Stars Part 15

Bridget went back to work at Mr. Gold's house that evening. She was cleaning the lower floor now, so she first swept the entrance hall and washed the windows in and beside the door. She worked quickly, trying to block out her memories from that day, but she couldn't. It couldn't be true, could it? It couldn't be true that she would never see Archie again. Even in the few weeks she had known him, Bridget had begun to feel like they had been friends for years. He couldn't just disappear.

But it wasn't because of friendship that he had canceled their counseling sessions, was it? That was what Bridget was afraid of, what she was so unwilling to admit to herself. She kept repeating his words in her mind: Frankly, Bridget, I've come to see that my feelings at this time put me in severe danger of being unable to keep that distance.

There were a lot of extra words in that sentence, but the essential meaning was there. Bridget turned the sentence upside-down and backwards in her mind, looked at it from all angles, and finally allowed herself to conclude that what she feared and hoped for was true. Archie had confessed his love to her that day.

And now he was gone.

Now that she had admitted to herself that he loved her, Bridget could also admit that she loved him. But what did it matter now? All she wanted now was to see him, to talk to him, but that was impossible. The vacuum cleaner Bridget was pushing across the living room floor slowed to a stop, and her hand shook on the handle. A few tears fell from her eyes. She couldn't accept this. Every time she thought about never seeing him again, her mind recoiled from the idea.

"Is something wrong?" came a level voice from behind her, and Bridget stiffened. She switched off the vacuum and turned to face Mr. Gold, hoping this was the most respectful thing to do. Feeling that there were still tears in her eyes, she blinked a little but didn't raise a hand to her face to wipe them away. She hoped futilely that he couldn't tell she had been crying.

"Nothing's wrong, sir," she said.

"Well, I heard the vacuum running, but it didn't sound like it was moving..." Gold glanced down at the vacuum with a slight gesture toward it. He met her eyes again. "So I just wanted to make sure nothing had broken."

The odd thought popped into Bridget's head that something had broken. "No, everything's all right."

"I see," Mr. Gold said. He held her gaze for a moment, then turned and walked out of the room, leaning on his cane.

Bridget finished vacuuming the living room, then left immediately. She had a few more things to do, but she could finish them tomorrow.

~~~

The next day was Thursday. Bridget easily finished the rest of her work at Mr. Gold's house by 5:00 and walked back home. As she came to the door of the apartment building, she noticed Sister Astrid waiting on the bench outside. She waved, brightening up a little. "Sister Astrid!" she called.

Astrid jumped up, then ran and hugged her. "Ohh," she said, "How are you doing, Bridget?"

"Well, ah..." Bridget couldn't say she was doing fine, not to her best friend.

"It's okay," Astrid said, holding her hands and looking her in the eyes, "I heard what happened. I came because I wanted to talk and find out from you what's really going on. Let's go inside, all right? I haven't gotten to see your new apartment. Well, I have—just not after you unpacked everything."