Good Pet

Tommy seemed stressed out enough by the fact that he might have to relive all of this over again, even if it is to bring evidence to the surface, so I don’t want to stress him out more. So, I keep my personal suffering silent. I keep it happy and non-stressful when I come home from work.

Which, is immaculately clean, and has been ever since Tommy moved in. He’s either a very clean person, or he’s anxiety cleaning. Neither would surprise me, given what I know about the love of my life, but I’m inclined to believe that it’s the latter under these circumstances.

Still, I want him to be as relaxed as possible, no matter the circumstances. That’s the job and the desire of any good girlfriend. He deserves nothing less from me, after such great personal risk.

It’s now Wednesday, close to the end of the day, and for once, I don’t see Vanacore around. I don’t see her menacing me from the edges of her itinerary, and I’m happy. It means I can just focus on putting in the last hour and heading home. Maybe getting Tommy to enjoy more than cuddling with me tonight, but I’m not sure he will want to.

I might have to wait until all of this craziness is over and done with. Some portion of it, anyway, before he’s going to be in the mood, I think, finishing up the rest of my work on the computer. I’ve just gotten a request to take some files down to the legal aids’ floor.

I sigh heavily, getting up from my chair to go run that errand before going home. There’s no one else to do it. Isabella’s been spending a lot of time over at the hospital with a friend. I don’t blame her. They are good friends, so of course, she’d want to be there for her.

As I take the elevator down to the legal aids’ floor and get off it, the file folder clutched tightly to me, I see the one person I didn’t want to see coming my way. Vanacore. And she looks way too happy to see me out in her waters, all alone.

Before I can even move to get away or head down a different way, she catches up to me. She grabs me and maneuvers me into a vacant bathroom. There, she pushes me up against the wall and says, “I know it’s you causing trouble for me. I know it’s you who’s at the source of all these people coming and snooping around. Getting called in and asked about my conduct with Tommy. Having to turn over pay records, as well as things from my desk!” She shakes me around, roughing me up as she’s pressed me against the wall. “If you think you’re going to get away with suing me for improper behavior with Tommy, my protégé, you’ve got another thing coming, Mary Poppins!”

I can see she wants to spit at me, but she refrains. Instead, she grabs my nice shirt and uses it to pull me off the wall and to her. I don’t give her the satisfaction of knowing how much she’s actually scaring me or how afraid of her I am at this moment. That’s exactly what these bully types want: to know you are scared out of your mind around them. That they can intimidate you, which is exactly what I can’t give her.

To my strong, and passive look, she says, “No matter what you do, Melissa, I’m going to make sure to take you and Tommy down. You’re not going to get to me.” She smiles widely, like a coyote on drugs. “Whatever legal action you’re trying to do against me, I’ve already made plans to make a countersuit.”

I know she can see the look of disgust clearly on my face. She just smiles at it.

“I’ve explained my situation to a lawyer, how you and Tommy are actually in a relationship, and I have every plan to make you both pay for that. To spin it in just such a way so that I’m innocent, as I always am, and you two are the depraved, lying manipulators,” she says. She smiles.

I pull her hands off me. “Only a snake would work with other snakes,” I say. I don’t know how I’m managing to sound this brave, but I am. “I don’t care what you think you’re going to do. No honest lawyer would represent you.” I braced myself, seeing that she wants to hit me, but doesn’t. “You do anything to me, any more than you’ve already done right here, right now, and you’re just going to make your charges worse.” I raise my chin, looking down at her as much as I can manage, being that she’s only a little taller than I am. “You’ve already gotten physical with me and made threats. Don’t make your situation any worse.” With that, I shoved past her. “Or do. The choice is yours, but you’re not getting to me. And you’re not getting to Tommy. You’re not going to mess with him anymore. Not as long as I’m here!”