Secret

Dawn

Jac sat alone in her office, it was very early, just after dawn in fact. She was absentmindedly running her fingers over a plain gold band on her necklace and trying to make sense of the past few weeks.
Flashback
God I hate Sacha sometimes Jac thought to herself. He had dragged her to some fundraising night at bloody Albies. Pretty much her worst nightmare and he was there and it looked as though him and Ange Goddard seemed to be getting very friendly.
It was hard not to notice that carefree joking and flirty laughter. The easy banter. It was hard not to notice because a few months ago that would have been her.
She managed to tuck herself away in a corner at a table with Sacha, Maria, Essie and Dom, endured the quiz and the raffle but drew the line at karaoke. She had also decided that copious amounts of alcohol was the way to cope with this evening. From her seat she had a perfect view of Fletch and Ange. Fucksake Naylor you told him you couldn't be with him, you have no right to be jealous of him being with someone else. But oh god she was insanely jealous. There was s knife plunging into her heart and twisting and twisting until she could stand it no more
Excusing  herself to the toilet but actually intending to leave whilst avoiding the inevitable questions and pleas to stay from Levy
She came out of the toilet and walked straight into Fletch. Literally.
"Oof. Steady on Jac " he said, instinctively steadying her by holding her upper arms
"Sorry" she said shrugging him off and ignoring the tingles of electricity flowing through her body from this slight physical contact
"How are you?" He asked as if they hardly knew each other at all
Jac gave a derisory laugh "how am I? Well let's see a few months ago we were on the brink of something that may have turned out to be wonderful but we decided that our friendship was too important to risk. Since then that friendship has waned" she ran her fingers through her hair "until now you're not even in your office much less on Darwin anymore"
He raised his eyebrows
"Yes Fletcher, I've noticed. I've noticed that you're hardly ever on my theatre team, you don't appear half way through the morning with a coffee and it seems" she laughed hollowly again "that you'd much prefer spending your time on Keller, the YAU and with your new girlfriend. So that friendship that was soooo important that we couldn't risk  it is pretty much dead in the water so, after, for once in my life trying to do the right thing and actually trying not to hurt somebody, I am left with nothing and the only person I've hurt is me" she paused. God I'm drunk "so yeah, that's how I am - pretty much broken again"
She stared at him defiantly, arms folded. She couldn't even read his emotions anymore which used to be plastered all over his stupid face.
After a couple of minutes of silence he leant forward and roughly took her face in his hands and kissed her hungrily. Angrily he forced his tongue into her mouth and she found it impossible not to respond and then as abruptly as it started he stopped, turned on his heel and left her standing there wondering what the fuck just happened.
End of flashback
A familiar knock on the door brought her back to reality. She smiled despite herself but noted the small knot of anxiety
"Come in Fletch"
He'd long since given up trying to work out what he did that made her know it was him knocking
He entered the room with two coffees
"Good morning" he grinned
"Hi"
"You left without saying goodbye" he said and bent over the desk to gently brush his lips against hers.
The knot of anxiety unwound itself. He wasn't angry with her. He knew her well enough to understand that she often rose just before dawn and used those quiet moments before that day began to 'process' and he knew that she would come here to do it
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A/N promise this will be a short one