...But Your Enemies Closer

Chapter Six - Combat Baby

"Excuse me?" Emily said and blinked slowly.

"It's my two weeks." Rebecca glanced at the paper quickly and then back to Emily. "This is the proper protocol, is it not?"

"It is," she replied and then looked at the paper herself, "I just don't understand where this is coming from."

Rebecca sighed. "Please, don't play this game. You know exactly where this is coming from."

Emily continued to stare at the lonely paper sitting on her desk. She hated it's presence there. It almost felt like it was mocking her.

"Look on the bright side. You win," Rebecca said in an offhand way as she turned to leave the office.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emily demanded, standing from her chair now in case she had to chase Rebecca down for an answer.

This wasn't the case at all, however. Rebecca turned at the door, gripped the handle in her right hand and glanced at Emily with sadness in her eyes. A sadness that couldn't be anything but authentic. It was a look that the blonde had never seen on Rebecca's face in all the years that they had known each other – and it was as unsuited to Rebecca's gorgeous face as much as it was foreign.

"I know you've been horrible to me this whole time in order to get me to quit. I may just be a dumb cheerleader in your eyes, but that doesn't mean that I'm completely stupid," Rebecca shrugged. "So, congratulations, you win. You finally got the upper hand on me Frazier."

This explanation struck Emily just as speechless as the initial news of Rebecca's two – week notice. For what felt like the first time in her adult life, she simply had nothing to retort. No witty comeback or one – liner to throw back. She was rendered completely silent.

Rebecca sensed Emily's inability to come up with a decent response and so she simply nodded and left the room finally. Emily stared at the closed door for a good five minutes before she finally sunk back into her chair. The blonde's mouth was still slightly ajar at the unexpected nature of the whole situation and for the life of her, she couldn't seem to shut her trap.

Emily felt completely blindsided by the whole ordeal. After waiting some time for things to cool down and smooth over, Emily was sure that Rebecca would come to her senses and realize that what they had together was playful and fun – nothing more than that. It could never be anything more than that. But all of it ending the way that it had? That was never supposed to be a part of the equation.

With a shaky hand – something that Emily had no more control over than her gaping mouth at the moment – she reached out to pick up the paper that Rebecca had slid across the desk. She hoped to God that this was just a cruel joke to get back at her for the way that she had handled the brunette's recent vulnerability when the nature of their relationship had come into question. Emily could admit that she should have used a bit more tact, but what had happened couldn't be changed. Looking down at the paper confirmed it all to be true though, the form was as authentic as could be.

Rebecca was actually leaving Zendex. She was leaving Emily. And God, did it fucking hurt just as bad as the last time she left her.

***

If the tension between Emily and Rebecca wasn't bad enough after their fight, it was absolutely unbearable now. In fact, all of Emily's colleagues stayed away from her office at all costs to avoid having to be in the thick tension that the two women created just being near one another. No one really knew why they had gone from being chummy and joking with each other one day to whatever the hell they were now – and admittedly no one wanted to know.

Rebecca couldn't look at Emily without feeling a hurt in her chest that she couldn't explain coupled with the disgusting sensation that made her want to vomit – a feeling that was similar to the sensation she felt during her senior year prank. Emily just stayed locked up in her office when she wasn't forced to come out to meet with her team on the new project. She wouldn't admit it, but she felt spurned and rejected, despite being the one that had done the rejecting this time around.