A week later, things definitely weren't 'all better'. They were worse.
Much worse.
Mike stormed into the house after work, carrying a paper in his hand. He
came into the dining room where Ellie and I were making play-dough. He
slapped the paper down on the table in front of me and demanded, "What
is this?"
I looked at the paper. Then looked up at Mike with a 'I can't believe you'
look. "Mike, it's the National Enquirer! You can't believe any of the crap
they put in here!"
"That's a pretty realistic picture of you on the cover."
I looked back at it. That reporter from last Saturday must have been from
the Enquirer for the picture was of me hugging Tobias. She must have had
a photographer hiding somewhere while she took off. "Mike, that was the
day Tobias told me Leah was pregnant. I was congratulating him."
"Like hell you were. There have been alot of pictures of you lately with
him--"
"Oh, and what about you? I'll bet if you look in the article there's some
pictures of you with that woman you've been seen all over the place with.
But have I jumped all over you about it? No!"
Mike glared at me, then seeming to notice Ellie for the first time, with
her hands over her ears, he grabbed my arm and led me into the kitchen.
"What is your problem?" I demanded. "Am I suddenly not allowed to
talk with any of my old friends? If they get a picture of me and Jake together,
are you going to think I'm cheating on you with him, too?"
"If I have a reason to, yes!"
I stared at him, "You're sick, Mike. You have no reason to believe I'd
be cheating on you with Tobias or anybody. I'm the one who has reason to
believe you haven't been honest, Mike. I wasn't going to say anything for
awhile, but you haven't been working overtime. I saw your paycheck, you
haven't worked half as much overtime as you've said you had. And this sudden
'overtime' started about the same time as those pictures of you and that
woman started floating around. What do you have to say about that?"
Mike looked white. I got a sick feeling in my stomach right then. I'd hoped
what I'd been saying was just meaningless things brought out because we
were both angry, but with that look on his face, I knew the truth. "Oh,
no..." I leaned back against a counter to keep from collapsing. "Mike,
don't tell me..."
"It is," he whispered nearly inaudibly.
"What?" I asked, just as quietly. My throat was tight with held back emotion.
"I--"
I covered my ears, much like Ellie had done when we'd been fighting. "I
don't want to hear it, Mike. I honestly don't. Go upstairs, pack up your
stuff, say good bye to the kids and leave. If you break up with that...that
woman...maybe you can come back. But I can't think about that now."
Without arguing, Mike left the kitchen and went up to our room. 10 minutes
later, he was leaving the house with a suitcase in tow. Elyssa and Tom
watched as he drove away, probably to his girlfriend's house.
"Mom?" Elyssa asked. "What happened?"
"What'd he tell you?" I asked, trying to sound normal.
"Just that he had to go and didn't know when he'd be back," Tom answered.
I sighed. How do you tell your kids they're father's a jerk? "Dad...well..."
"The Enquirer was right, huh?" Elyssa said softly. "Dad's been cheating."
Tom's eyes widened in shock when I nodded. He obviously hadn't been paying
attention to what they'd been saying. "But..." he drifted off, not knowing
what to say.
I hugged both of them. "I'm sure your dad will be back soon. We just both
need...a vacation from eachother."
Elyssa pushed away from me, "Don't sugarcoat it, Mom. We can figure it
out for ourselves." Without another word, she ran up the stairs and slammed
the door to her room. Tom followed. I half expected Ellie to clamor up
after them, but she was content with her play dough.
I debated what to do next. Go back and play with Ellie? Watch TV? Go up
and talk to Elyssa? The last one sounded like the best plan. The girl had
a volatile temper, and if she didn't calm down she was likely to do something
rash. She'd snuck out of the house while she was angry more than once.
Quietly, I went upstairs and knocked on her door. "Elyssa?"
"Go away!" was her muffled reply.
"Elyssa, I just want to talk for a second."
"No! This is your fault!"
I opened the door and walked into the room. Her head was buried under her
pillows so she didn't notice untill I'd sat down next to her. "How is this
my fault?"
"Why'd you have to be a stupid Animorph anyways? You should have known
Dad wasn't cut out to be famous. You should have married that Tobias guy
you were so fond of."
I wanted to hug her, but there was no way she'd let me get close enough.
She'd curled herself up on one end of the bed, leaving me on the other.
"I didn't choose to be an Animorph, Elyssa, you know that. And you know
very well I had no say over revealing who I was."
"I bet you did," she said sulkily. "And if you hadn't been so busy with
your stupid interviews and crap, Dad wouldn't have cheated."
She was probably right there. I sighed. "I'm sorry you feel like that,
I'll leave you here for awhile. Come down when you're ready."
The tension was thick in the house for the next two weeks. Elyssa only
talked to me when necessary and spent most of her time holed up in her
room. She wouldn't let anyone talk on the phone for very long and answered
the phone every time it rang, hoping it was Mike.
Tom also spent most of his time in his room, playing his guitar. Thankfully,
he kept the door closed and turned his amp on one of the lowest volume
settings and still be able to hear so the rest of us didn't have to listen.
I love the kid, just not his music. He plays Nine Inch Nails' style, I
prefer Alanis' style.
And Ellie spent the day normally, but in the evening she'd usually cry
herself to sleep since her daddy wasn't there to tuck her in and protect
her from the monsters. She was too young to really understand what was
going on. She just knew her daddy wasn't there.
And I was just trying to hold it all together. I mediated fights between
Elyssa and Tom, fended off questions from the press about Mike and I, and
avoided pity whenever possible. I was doing fine, I didn't need the world
crying for me.
The final blow came a two and a half weeks after Mike had left. I got a
letter in the mail from some law firm or other. I didn't think anything
about it since lawyers were always contacting me, either wanting me to
be their client or to talk about royalties. When I opened it and started
reading, I sat down on a dining room chair. Hard. It was a letter from
Mike's lawyer. He wanted a divorce.
Elyssa looked up from the book she was reading at the table. Seeing the
horrified look on my face, she said the first words to me she'd voluntarily
said since Mike'd left. "What's wrong, Mom?"
I forced myself to remain calm. "Your father wants a divorce."
She gasped. "Well, forget waiting for him to come home then," she said.
She marked her place in the book and gave me a hug. "He doesn't want custody
of us or anything, does he? 'Cause I'm not living with him."
"Why the sudden change?"
"I'm not going to live with a guy who wants a divorce from the most
famous woman on Earth!"
"And what about all the 'it's my fault he cheated' stuff you've been saying
for the last two weeks?"
She shrugged. "I was mad and I didn't think he'd be gone for long. I'm
sorry, Mom."
"It's okay, I understand," I said as i continued to read over the letter.
"I don't know if he wants custody of you three yet. But if he does, I'm
going to try and get it so you and your brother can choose which parent
to live with. Ellie's going to live with me, of course. She's too young
to choose." I folded up the letter. "But I don't want to talk about that
right now. I might as well tell your brother now, the sooner he knows,
the sooner I can call this damn lawyer and get this settled."
Get
it settled. Uh-huh. Sure. Mike was determined not to make this easy for
me, and accidentally, for the kids. I think he was determined to mar my
name, make it look like wonderful Xena wasn't such a wonderful person after
all. I knew I wasn't all that great a person, and anybody who knows me,
or has even read something that contained something about me knows
I'm not great, I don't see why he needed to carry it out any longer than
he had to.
A year and a half later, though, I was finally free. From Mike, at least.
As I left the court house where everything was finalized, I was mobbed
by the press. A security guard had to clear a path for me to the cab I
was going to take home, where the kids and my friends were waiting.
I entered the house to cheers. All the Animorphs, my mom and sisters, and
of course, my kids, were happy that I was finally free of Mike. They threw
an impromptu party celebrating. I couldn't help but be drawn into the excitement,
and I knew in my heart that there was nothing I could have done to stop
the divorce. Mike was the one who'd left. But still, a part of me was distraught
over the divorce being final. My mother and father had divorced when I
was young, and I grew up hardly seeing Dad. I'd resolved never to let that
happen to my kids, especially when Tom was born, but now it looks like
I don't get a say in that. Both Elyssa and Tom had elected to live with
me most of the time, they're only seeing their father every other holiday
and two weeks during the summer, Mike didn't want any more responsibility
for them since he and his fiancee (yes, he was engaged again) wanted to
start a family of their own and didn't want the added responsibility of
three kids who couldn't stand either of them. They were also moving back
to Mike's hometown, so they'd be half way across the country, limiting
the ammount of time that could be spent with them. Personally, I liked
it that way. With him gone, I wouldn't be faced with constant reminders
that Xena was the only Animorph to fail at marriage.
The kids and I worked for the next week and a half getting settled into
our new house. We'd moved just days before the divorce was finalized, none
of us wanted to live in the house that had so many reminders of Mike, so
we moved a few blocks away. Far enough so we weren't too near the house,
close enough so the kids could stay in their current school and Elyssa
and Tom could still bike to the old neighborhood to see their friends.
Ellie's friends consisted of kids in her first grade class, none of whom
were in the old neighborhood, so I didn't need to worry about her.
Once settled in, life carried on much as it had before. I spent the day
at home, occasionally working on a project just to keep from going stir-crazy,
and giving myself 'mini-vacations' while the kids were at school, spending
the day out shopping. There was one change though-I couldn't leave the
kids home when I had to travel to promote something. I wasn't going to
leave Elyssa home overnight while I was on the other side of the country
for a week untill she could drive, just a year away. But untill then, I
have to drag the kids everywhere with me, which they despise. I would leave
them with another Animorph, but more often than not, we're all traveling
together, and I'm just not comfortable with leaving Ellie with someone
who isn't one of her parents. Call me over-protective if you want, but
I'm not changing my ways.
Elyssa was learning to like the traveling though. On more than one occasion,
we've all gone to New York City, which she has fallen in love with. She's
determined to move there when she grows up and become a famous Broadway
actress. Tom was adamant not to have a good time when he traveled with
us. The thought of being the only guy in a group of four horrified him.
And Ellie was always just getting used to a place when we left again. I
hated doing it to them, but I didn't have a choice.
Elyssa's 16th birthday finally came, and it happened to be the very day
she got her driver's license, great birthday present or what? So the constant
traveling had finally ended for them. And it was slowing down for me. The
fanatical interest in the Animorphs was beginning to wan. The only traveling
I did now was the occasional charity function, nothing major. I was beginning
to feel depressed. Like, the action's over, now what? Although a letter
I got in the mail changed that. For awhile, at least.
"Yo, Mom!" Elyssa called to me as she slammed the front door shut. "You've
got mail from Paramount."
"Paramount?" I asked, setting down my book. "Paramount as in the movie
studio?"
"That's what it looks like," she said, handing me a stack of envelopes.
The letter from Paramount was on top, I ripped it open, at a glance I could
tell it was a form letter, it was all typed except for my name, which was
scrawled in barely legible handwriting at the top.
Rachel ________--
Hello, I'm Brooke Lynn York, I'm a director at Paramount Studios.
I've recently written a screenplay for a movie based on your, and the rest
of the Animorphs' lives. Most of the film shall be seen in flash blacks,
but in order to do flash backs, we need the Animorphs as their adult selves.
If you would be willing, the rest of the crew and I would be honored if
you would be a part of our movie, not only as an actor, but as a consultant.
We want this to be the most accurate portrayal of your lives as possible.
Please contact me soon.
At the bottom was a phone number, and her scrawled signature. "Geez, that
girl had some messed parents," I muttered to myself as I re-read the letter.
"Who did?" Elyssa asked. "And what's it about?"
"This director at Paramount wants to do a movie about the lives of the
Animorphs, it's going to be done in flash backs and she wants the Animorphs
to be in the movie, and act as consultants. Oh, and get her name, Brooke
Lynn York."
"Brooklyn?"
"Brooke Lynn," I corrected.
"You're right, her parents were messed."
"I'm going to call the others, see if they got these and what they're going
to do. I'll be up in my office."
I called Cassie first once I was in my small office. Her husband picked
up.
"Hi, Dan," I said when I recognized his voice. "It's Rachel, Cassie there?"
"Yeah, she was just about to call you, actually. Something about a movie."
"Which is exactly what I wanted to talk to her about."
"I'll get her on." There was a click as Dan put me on hold. A minute later
Cassie picked up.
"You going to do this movie thing?" she asked immediately.
"Hi, Cassie. How are you? Nice to talk to you again," I said brightly.
She laughed. "Sorry, Rachel. But did you get this movie thing?"
"From Brooke Lynn?"
"I thought Paramount was in California..."
Now it was my turn to laugh. "Brooke Lynn is the name of the director who's
doing the movie."
"Oh, yeah. Poor girl."
"But I am thinking about doing this 'movie thing'. I wasn't going to call
Ms. York untill I heard what every one else was planning."
"I'm all for it, and I'm sure the others will be, too."
Once again I wondered what had happened to the quiet girl Cassie had been
when we were growing up. She'd never have agreed to something like this.
"All right, I'll call you back in a few."
I called the rest of my friends. Marco was going to accept no matter what
the rest of us decided, which was just so him, Jake and Tobias would if
Cassie, Marco and I would. It was unanimous. I called Cassie back to tell
her we'd decided to go ahead with the movie. Once I finished talking with
her, I dialed the number Brooke had given me.
It took a few tries to get past the busy signals, probably the others calling,
but I finally reached her office.
"Brooke Lynn York's office, Paramount Studios. Who's calling?" a woman
asked brusquely.
"Rachel ________."
"We've been been expecting your call. You've decided to accept the movie
offer?"
"Yes, I have."
"Good, Ms. York will be glad to hear that. We planned on starting next
weekend, would you be able to make it then?"
I scanned my desk calendar quickly. "Yeah."
"Good, we'll send you your plane ticket right away. See you in a week."
She hung up.
I hung up, too, muttering about how that woman needed to learn how to hold
a proper phone conversation, then hurried down the stairs to tell Elyssa
I needed her to baby sit next weekend.
"But that's Homecoming!" was her protest.
"Did I say you needed to stay home every minute? No. Tom can stay with
Ellie while you're at the game and the dance, but you'll need to be home
otherwise. No parties, no spending the night at a friends, that sort of
thing."
"How long you going to be gone?"
"I have no idea. The receptionist I talked to didn't give me much information,
but if I'm going to be gone during the week, I'll have on of the neighbors
get Ellie off to school so neither you or Tom will be late."
"And that's the reason I was going to watch her," she pouted with a mischievous
look.
"You!" I said, giving her a slight shove. Then I told Tom and Ellie about
the trip. Tom couldn't really care less about it, but Ellie wanted to go
with me. Of course, I couldn't let her, but she did like the idea of staying
with Elyssa for the weekend. She may be nearly seven, but she still worships
the ground her sister walks on.
My plane ticket arrived on Tuesday. First class round trip, leaving here
Friday afternoon, return date to be announced. "Great, they have no idea
how long they're gonna keep me," I muttered when I read that.
As soon as Ellie got home from school on Friday, I got all of us into the
car and had Elyssa drive us to the airport.
"Elyssa, you remember the rules, right?" I asked before getting out of
the car when we had parked at the airport.
"You've told me a hundred times, Mom. No going to or having parties, no
friends over after eight, absolutely no guys, and if Mike--"
"Dad," I interrupted sternly. Mike may be an idiot, but he's still
Elyssa's, Tom's and Ellie's father. Elyssa seems to have trouble remembering
that.
"Whatever. If he calls we're to hang up immediately. Although why he'd
call is beyond me." I hadn't told her Mike had been calling lately, wanting
to see more of them kids for reasons I couldn't begin to fathom.
"I'll call if I won't be back before Monday," i told them. "Bye, guys!
Elyssa and Tom mumbled their good-bye while Ellie yelled it out cheerfully.
I got my bags from the trunk and waved as Elyssa pulled the car out of
the lot.
An hour later, all the Animorphs were on the plane on our way to California.
Whoever bought our plane tickets must have had a warped sense of humor,
however. Tobias and I were seat mates, as were Jake and Cassie. Marco was
in the seat behind mine, alone, as he was way back when.
The flight was a quiet one. Tobias and I seemed to be able to have only
short conversations. I convinced myself it was just nerves. I mean, we
were both adults now, having put our high school romance and arguments
behind us. The only cause for lack of conversation had to be nerves.
So four hours later, it was a silent group that exited the plane. One of
the Paramount "gophers", unimportant people that would 'go for' whatever
the important ones wanted them to, was waiting for us and escorted us to
the limo that would take us to the studio lot.
"Follow me to Ms. York's office," the gopher, Chris, told us when we reached
the lot. We obeyed, taking in the sights of the movie lot as we walked.
Cassie walked next to me, behind Chris, but ahead of the other guys. "So,
what do you think?" she asked.
"Of what?"
"We're on a movie set. We're going to be in a movie. Don't tell me you're
not excited!"
I shrugged. "I guess I am...I'm just caught up in my thoughts, I guess."
She nodded compassionately, "Worried about the kids?"
Trust Cassie to figure that out immediately. "Can you blame me?"
She laughed. "Not really."
"Here's Ms. York's office," Chris announced, stopping at an office door.
"Go right on in."
We all looked at eachother for a moment, the unspoken question obvious,
were we all in on this? Just as obvious was the answer. Yes.
"Let's do it," I said quietly. Cassie was the only one that heard and barely
suppressed a laugh. I flashed my famous grin and boldly opened the door.
Sitting behind a desk in the center of the room was a young red haired
woman, 25 at the most, legs up on the desk, filing her nails. She glanced
up at us briefly, popped her gum and pointed to another door. "Ms. York's
in there." She went back to her nails.
Once again, I opened the door. This time behind the desk was a tall brunette
woman, staring intently at a computer screen. She didn't even notice we'd
come in untill I'd cleared my throat. She looked up, startled. "Oh, hi,"
she said, flustered, while she pushed back her chair and stood up. She
walked around the desk to stand in front of us. "Marco, Cassie, Tobias,
Jake and Rachel? Brooke Lynn York," she introduced as she shook our hands
in turn. "It's an honor and a pleasure to meet you. Really. Thank you so
much for coming so quickly. I know you have families you're anxious to
return to so I'll keep these meetings as brief as possible. Would you like
to take a seat?" She indicated the five chairs in front of her desk. "I
can print out the basic plot outline I have so far and you can critique
me on it."
We all took a seat while Brooke sat down in front of her computer again
and clicked the print button. Five minutes later, we all had copies of
the outline and were looking them over.
"I know it's short," Brooke said apologetically, "But I didn't want to
put something in there and find out it was totally off."
I nodded absently and nearly dropped it when I saw who's point of view
the movie was to be from. Me. The movie was going to mostly revolve around
me, starting with that stupid reunion.
"How come you're following Rachel?" marco asked, noticing how often I was
mentioned.
"I don't know if any of you have followed those periodic polls someone
comes out with about 'Who's your favorite Animorph?', but since
Rachel's divorce," she sent me an apologetic glance, "She's topped them
consistently. I wanted to do a movie featuring all of you equally, but
the producers figure we can get more money by focusing heavily on Rachel."
"Yippee," I muttered.
"I got the rest of you as much as possible--"
"But the producers are God," Marco supplied.
Brooke smiled, "Exactly."
"I think this looks good so far," Cassie said after a moment. "It definitely
needs more detail, but it's a good start."
"Great," Brooke said, grinning. "Does anybody have any suggestions for
anecdotes to use? Any times that stick out in memory?"
We started to fill Brooke in on the specifics from the time I'd tried vainly
to block out as much as possible, the war with the Yeerks, and then our
post-war, pre reunion lives. She frantically scribbled notes, getting down
the stories almost as fast as we could tell them. It took two hours, and
nearly an entire notebook for Brooke, but our stories were recorded.
"What time is it?" I asked Brooke, stifling a yawn once she finished writing.
She looked at her watch, "Seven, why?"
"Time change," Cassie explained. "It feels to be 11 to us."
"Oh, I forgot about that," Brooke said. "I'll walk you out front to pick
up a cab. You know where your hotel is?" We assured her we did, and could
get to the front of the studio by ourselves. Reluctantly, she let us go
on alone.
We got to the main entrance of the studio and hailed a taxi. All five of
us managed to squeeze in. Cassie, Jake, Tobias and I in the back, Marco
up front. He gave the driver the address of our hotel and I settled back
for the ride.
Our luggage had been transferred directly to the hotel from the airport,
so we simply had to give our names to the receptionist and get our room
numbers. Brooke hadn't spared any expenses, each of us had a private suite,
one next to another so we could visit easily.
By the time I was in my room, I'd gotten my second wind. I wasn't tired
anymore, so instead I got some food and a wine cooler out of the pantry
the hotel supplied and laid back on the bed, flipping through the channels
on TV.
About an hour later, just as I was about to feel the effect of the wine
cooler, someone knocked at the door.
"Who is it?" I called, not wanting to get up.
"Tobias," was the muffled response.
"Be there in a sec!" I called, reluctantly rolling out of the bed. As I
walked to the door, I checked myself in the mirror and smoothed a few wisps
of hair down. Once I was sure I looked fine, I opened the door.
Tobias smiled when he saw me. He held up a bottle of champagne, "Mind if
I come in?"
Wondering why he'd brought the champagne, I let him in. "What brings you
here?" I asked slowly, not wanting to sound like I'd been drinking.
He set the bottle and on the bar and poured two glasses, handing one to
me. "Nothing much, just thought I'd spend an evening with you." His speech
was slightly slurred.
I sipped the champagne. "Mmmmm. Really?"
He shrugged. "We're in Hollywood, might as well act the part."
I smiled slightly as the bubbles from the champagne tickled my nose. "Yeah,
guess you're right. So, did you have any...plans for tonight?"
Now he smiled, and sat down on the bed. "Maybe."
Through my alcohol induced stupor, that sent warning bells off. Something
was wrong with this...although I couldn't quite place what it was...oh,
well.
Tobias must have noticed my pause. "Rachel, I do love you. I mean, ever
since we got here, I haven't been able to think of much else than out.
Hell, ever since you moved away back after high school, I haven't been
able to think of much else."
This wasn't right. Tobias was...he was...I couldn't think of the word,
but Tobias couldn't love me, could he? "That's sweet, Tobias, but..."
"But what?"
Oh, what the hell. We were in Hollywood, I could say it! "I love you, too.
But...doesn't something feel wrong about this to you? I can't put my finger
on it..."
He put a finger to my lips, "Shhh. What could be wrong with this?"
Well...when he put it that way. "Well... all right." And I brushed off
whatever it was that was holding me back and gave in to Tobias.
I woke up around five the next morning, before Tobias had. I looked over
at him. He looked so peaceful asleep. Then I remembered, through my slight
hang over, what we'd done last night.
"Oh, my God," I moaned, getting out of the bed. Tobias woke up at the movement.
"What?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Tobias, do you realize where you are? Where you spent the night?"
He looked confused for a moment, but he soon realized what I was talking
about. "Oh, oh God..."
"I don't think divine intervention is very plausible right now," I said
brusquely. "Here's the deal, this never happened. It's five am here, no
one will be awake to see you coming out of my room. No one needs to know
what happened here."
"Um, right, sure," he said. "I guess."
"You guess?" I asked, incredulously. "There's no guessing about
it! In Layman's terms, Tobias, you cheated on Leah with me last night.
Cheating is what broke up my marriage, you don't want to do that to Leah
and the kids."
"Yeah, yeah, you're right, of course. I mean, I do love Leah...but then
how come I love you, too?"
I stopped sorting through my luggage, trying to find my robe, and turned
to Tobias. "Oh, God, Tobias, I love you, too. Or maybe we're both still
a little drunk. Last night wouldn't have happened if one or the other weren't
true. But either way, you know as well as I that it was wrong."
"You're right. Last night was stupid. I'll see you later?"
I pulled the robe out of a suitcase, "Yeah." I suppressed an urge to lean
down and give him a peck on the cheek and went into the bathroom to take
a shower.
By the time I got down to the lobby, everyone else was there. Tobias didn't
say anymore than 'hello' to me, no more than he usually would have. Hopefully
no on would pick up on a change between us, although I thought I caught
a suspicious look from Cassie.
"Brooke said we didn't need to be in untill noon," Jake said. "She figured
we could do some sightseeing."
"Cool," I said. "Cassie, want to go shopping?"
I was just teasing, fully expecting a horrified 'no!', but she said, "Sure."
Trying not to show my surprise, I said to the guys, "Well, unless you want
to tag along behind us while we power shop, when and where do you want
to meet?"
"How about the studio at noon? Maximum time to see as much as we want to
today," Cassie suggested.
I think everyone suspected something was up with Cassie, but no one said
anything. We agreed to meet at Brooke's office at noon. The guys caught
one taxi and went off to do who knows what, while Cassie and I got another
and headed towards the shopping district.
"So...what's up between you and Tobias?" she asked casually as we flipped
through a rack of clothes.
"Nothing," I responded automatically. Which was being truthful, sort of.
Nothing more would happen between us as long as Tobias was married, and
I wasn't even going to think about Tobias getting a divorce.
"When why did he come out of your room this morning?"
I stared at her. "How did you know about that?"
"I was leaving my room this morning and saw him leaving yours."
"Okay, so maybe we were together last night..." I admitted reluctantly.
"Rachel! He's married! You, of all people, should know how someone
cheating can ruin a marriage!"
"I know, Cassie," I really do. But you don't understand."
She laid a hand on my shoulder, "Try me."
We left the store and found a seat in a small cafe where I felt more comfortable
talking. Once the waitress had taken our order, I told Cassie about what
had happened the night before.
"I know now I shouldn't have," I told her when I was finished. "But...I
have a clear head now, Cassie, and I still love him. That's not an excuse
for last night, but it's all I have. That and all the alcohol."
Cassie shook her head, obviously disappointed in me. "I don't know what
to say, Rachel. I know you haven't had the happiest home life--"
"Let's not bring that into this," I said. "What happened, happened, and
it's not going to happen again. I'm not going to risk Tobias, or Leah,
or their kids, having to go through what I did just so I can be happy with
him. I'm not like that, no matter what Mike thought."
We spent the afternoon at Brooke's office, working on writing the first
scene of the movie. We kept the dialogue as exact to our reunion as we
could, since the first scene was a recreation of that day when our lives
had been turned upside down for the second time, although we condensed
it a bit. No one wanted to waste half an hour hearing what we'd done the
past ten years.
We finished around five and opted to go out to dinner instead of going
back to the hotel. We were beginning to get used to California time, so
even through we were more hungry than we should have been at five, it wasn't
all that much of a difference.
After dinner and a bit more sightseeing, we returned to the hotel for the
night.
I'd just gotten off the phone with Tom, checking in on things at home when
there was a knock at the door. I knew who it was immediately. Tobias. I
considered ignoring him, pretending to be asleep already, but he kept knocking,
so I answered.
"What?" I asked, letting him in.
"We need to talk."
"About what? I thought we sorted everything out this morning."
"You call agreeing last night never happened sorting everything out? I
thought last night meant something."
"You sound like a teenager! Yes, last night meant something. It meant we
made a mistake. We were both drunk, you can't say anything you say or do
while drunk meant something."
"We still need to talk," he insisted.
"Fine. Talk. I'm listening."
"We need to decide what did happen last night. I've been trying
to decide all day exactly how to act around you--"
"Like nothing's different," I said.
"You can't go through what we did and say nothing's different."
"Isn't this the same argument we had back in High School? The one that
caused our break up? I wanted to go one with life as if nothing had changed
and you insisted we couldn't? For now, we need to keep up the pretense
of normalcy. Which means you can't be coming to my room every night! Especially
since..."
"Especially since what?"
"Nothing. Forget I said anything."
"Rachel. What. Happened."
"Cassie sorta knows what happened last night," I said in a rush.
"What?!"
"It's not like I meant for her to know! She saw you leaving here this morning
and confronted me while we were out shopping."
"Damn," he cursed under his breath.
"It's not like everyone knows. This isn't the tight knight group it used
to be. She's not going to tell anybody."
"I hope you're right."
We spent the rest of the week in Hollywood, helping Brooke get down all
the details of the movie. She'd spend the next two weeks or so getting
the script together and showing it to her superiors. In the mean time,
we were all going home.
All our families were at the airport when we arrived home, with one noticeable
exception: Tobias'.
Ellie was ecstatic to see me again, you'd have thought I'd been gone for
a year, not a week, with the way she was carrying on. Tom was more subdued,
which wasn't all that surprising. Elyssa was pretty calm, too, although
I got the feeling it wasn't because she was 16 and 'too cool' to gush over
her mother returning home.
She didn't say much on the way home, either, she left all the questioning
about the trip up to Ellie and Tom.
When we got home and I'd put all my stuff away, I asked her what was wrong.
"Besides the fact maybe Dad was right about you cheating? Nothing."
"What do you mean?" I asked, dreading the answer.
"Monday we got two calls after school. One was from Leah, asking if I'd
heard yet. I had no idea what she was talking about. She apologized quickly
and hung up. Not an hour later, there was another call. Dad. Yes, I know
you said not to talk to him, but I did, all right? He asked if I'd read
the tabloids lately. Naturally, I hadn't. So he told me the Enquirer's
cover story. Xena and Birdboy: Back together. He asked me to consider moving
in with him since at least he'd never lied about his cheating--"
"Never lied!"
"Chill, Mom, let me finish. Anyways, I hung up on him, but called one of
my friends. She had the story and brought it over," she shook her head
ruefully. "And I thought you were telling the truth during the divorce."
"I was, Elyssa. And--Dammit, I don't need to justify myself to you! If
you don't like me for what happened while I was there, fine, I'm not going
to stop you, just don't try and pass judgment on me, you have no idea what
happened that night."
"I know plenty. My mother's a slut who hasn't been laid since--" I silenced
that train of thought with a resounding slap across her cheek.
"I don't want to hear that sort of language around me," I warned her sternly.
She just glared at me. Her cheek was slightly red from the slap, but she'd
stayed strong and refrained from touching it.
Just when the tension between us was about to explode again, the phone
rang. Elyssa took the opportunity to bolt to her room, while I answered
the phone.
"Yes?" I answered, sharper than I'd intended.
"Something wrong?" the voice on the other end of the line-Tobias-asked.
"Why are you calling me?" I asked. "I have a situation on my hands." I
heard the sound of Elyssa's window being forced open upstairs. The window
that led out over the room and near the trellis on the side of the house.
Dammit!
I thought.
"Everyone knows," he told me quietly. From the background noise, I could
guess he was in his car on his cell phone. Apparently, he hadn't been too
welcome at home.
A thump upstairs. Elyssa was on the roof now. "I have to go. Mike and a
friend told Elyssa about what happened and now she's pissed and trying
to run away." Without waiting for an answer, I hung up and ran out the
door to try and intercept Elyssa.
I found her on the side of the house, climbing down the trellis, backpack
swung over her shoulders.
"Elyssa!" I shouted. She looked down at me. "No!" she shouted, virtually
shaking with anger, which scared me. Yes, perhaps I had betrayed her trust,
and I probably shouldn't have slapped her, but this was over reacting!
She started to climb back up the trellis. Why, I don't know. Maybe she
planned to jump off the roof or something equally crazy. But before she
could get back up to the top, her foot slipped off the trellis.
"Ahhh!" she screamed as she hung precariously by her hands, feet scrabbling
to get hold of the frame. But the word was old and rotted and had collapsed
beneath her feet.
My mind was racing. What could I do? The trellis wouldn't hold me, so I
couldn't climb up and help her. I couldn't let her fall...morph!
But what could help her down? Chimpanzee could climb up, but couldn't help
her down, and I didn't have anything else that could climb, so what was
large enough to reach her from the ground?
I smiled slightly when the morph came to me. "Elyssa, hang on! I'll get
you down!" By now, half the neighborhood, including Tom and Ellie, had
gathered around. And I began to do the one thing I'd sworn never to do
again: Morph.
The changes began slowly at first, but became gradually faster. I grew
larger by the ton. My legs and arms thickened into tree trunks. My nose
stretched out to become a fifth limb. Meanwhile, my skin was turning rough
and gray. With my rapidly fading eye-sight, I saw Elyssa stare at me, both
afraid and maybe slightly revolted at the sight of her mother turning into
an African Bull Elephant.
Before long, the morph was complete. I stretched my trunk and carefully
wrapped it around Elyssa's waist.
< Hold on tight,
Elyssa, > I told her. < I'm going to set you down on the ground, all
right? > She nodded and clung to my trunk.
As slowly and carefully as I could, I brought Elyssa down and set her on
the ground and promptly proceeded to demorph to the sound of cheers. Thank
God I was wearing tight shorts and a sports bra today, the rest of my clothes
were in shreds, I hadn't even thought to kick off my shoes.
Elyssa, Tom and Ellie, who'd come out when they heard Elyssa's scream,
all gave me a hug once I was fully human. In the middle of our celebration,
a car pulled up in the driveway. I looked up, once again, it was Tobias.
"God, this is not the time," I muttered quietly. Elyssa noticed
him, too, and stiffened. "Stay here," I told her, Tom and Ellie, and jogged
over to meat him.
"What'd I miss?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing out of the ordinary. Just saving the life of one of the most
important people in mine," I said casually, folding my arms in front of
me as I was suddenly aware just how little I was wearing.
"Oh. I just...I mean.."
"I know. But you know what? I say we keep contact to a minimum. You patch
up your marriage, I'll patch up my family. Both are more important than
anything that could happen between us."
He nodded solemnly, understanding. He went back to his car and drove away
while I returned to the kids.
"Come on, lets get inside," I said, ushering them into the house. "Is it
just me, or is it cold out here?"
I spent the next two years hopping back and forth between California and
home. There weren't any more unfortunate incidents between Tobias and I,
although we were a bit strained at times. Leah hadn't wanted to stay with
him under any circumstances, so although he was single again, I wouldn't
allow myself to go beyond being friends with him. I couldn't risk the hard
won trust of my family for a few nights of pleasure with Tobias.
But finally, premiere night came. All of us were taking our families with
us to California for a week to see the opting of the movie we'd put so
much effort into.
Elyssa, now a beautiful young woman at 18, Ellie, a spunky nine year old,
and I had new dresses for the big event. Tom, 14, had a suit which he made
well known he was wearing "under protest".
I took two limos to get the Animorphs entourage to the theater. My family
and I shared a limo with Cassie's and Marco, since we had room for one
more person, while Jake and Tobias got their families, Tobias had custody
of the kids for the week, into another. Cassie, her husband, Marco and
I made small talk on the way there, but we were too nervous to say much.
I'd never been to a movie premiere before, so I was surprised to step out
of the limo and feel the heels of my stilettos sink into the red carpet,
and all the cameras that went off seemingly at once. I plastered a smile
on my face as I'd seen movie stars do and waited for the kids to climb
out before entering the theater, occasionally stopping to pose for a photograph.
The movie was great. It started with the reunion and proceeded to tell
the story of the Animorphs through a unique point of view mine. If the
documentaries ever focused on one character when showing the entire story
it was Jake, the fearless leader. Of course, those always had numerous
errors, since they didn't have u watching every line placed in the script.
I can safely say this movie presented a new, truthful, view on the fight.
As we were leaving the theater, Elyssa whispered to me, "Hey, ask Tobias
if he wants to go do something. I'll keep track of everybody." I shot her
a questioning look. "He's been watching you all week. He loves you, Mom.
And you love him, that much is obvious. Tom and Ellie don't mind, I don't
mind. If his kids don't, go for it." She gave me a reassuring smile and
surged ahead with Tom and Ellie. Not for the first time, I marveled at
how mature she'd become.
Tobias, seeing I was alone, managed to get closer to me in the crush of
people. I felt a wave of emotions when he brushed against me. Loyalty,
anger, guilt. But most prominently of all, love.
"Want to get together later?" I whispered. He jerked away in surprise.
"Elyssa suggested it and volunteered to provide child care. And this time,
we won't mess up."
He found my hand and squeezed it gently. "No, we won't."
Author's Notes: Before you start asking, there will be no sequel to this!!! What happens with Rachel and Tobias is totally up to you. Anyway, that said and done, what'd ya' think of the story? Send me all questions (except will I write a sequel and what happens to Rachel and Tobias), comments and...you can leave the death threats far away from me.