---

“Hands off, Brad’s mine.”

“Fine, I’m having Ryan then.”

“Greg is sexier than both of them.”

“But Colin is lovely.”

 

Fenny and Gina looked at each other as they stood surrounded by teenaged Whose Line fans.

“Please tell me we’ve never carried on like that,” Fenny cringed.

“Well I certainly know I haven’t, but then I wasn’t engaged to Brad,” Gina mused.

“I never carried on like that,” Fenny reiterated.

“Believe what you must,” Gina smirked.

Fenny narrowed her eyes at Gina. “I hope you run straight into Greg.”

“With my luck, I’m sure I will,” Gina shrugged.

 

“I bet Brad would be great in the sack,” a fan chirped to her friends.

“Yeah a whole 3 and a half minutes of fun,” Fenny chided. “I’ve been there, hardly worth it.”

“He’s not that well hung either,” Gina added.

The group of fans looked stunned by Fenny and Gina’s admissions and stood open mouthed for several seconds, before they turned back to each other.

“Can’t we just go in?” Fenny grumbled, and tugged on Gina’s arm.

“We can’t keep abusing my power as a journalist,” Gina sighed.

“I thought that’s what journalists did?” Fenny countered.

Gina rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she breathed, grabbed Fenny’s wrist and dragged her to security. They were let in without a fuss and headed toward the studio.

“So, we going straight to our seats or are we heading to the green room?” Fenny asked.

“I don’t care either way,” Gina shrugged as they heard the doors open in the distance.

“Crap, they’re letting the kiddies in, better go to our seats,” Fenny huffed and led Gina through the doors that opened out into the audience area of the studio.

---

---

“…And then we pissed off the balcony and they thought it was part of the act,” the room erupted into laughter as Paul finished another anecdote.

“I can’t believe you did that, man,” Ryan mused as he looked at Greg.

“I’d consumed fifteen Black Russians, I can’t remember doing it,” Greg laughed.

“I thought we were drinking Bloody Marys?” Paul countered.

“We probably did, along with three bottles of Tequila and some very fine Scotch Whiskey,” Greg perked.

“Those were the days,” Paul sighed.

“Of what? Liver failure?” Wayne said unimpressed.

“What?” Paul scowled.

“Well, you’re essentially boasting about consuming large amounts of drugs and alcohol and you expect us to be impressed?” Wayne grumbled.

“I’m impressed,” Ryan mused.

“Me too,” Colin nodded.

“It’s what comics do, man, we spend a couple of hours on stage, then go to the nearest pub and get smashed, until we next have to appear on stage,” Greg declared.

“Well, I’m just glad I took the career path I did,” Wayne scorned.

“We’re not that different, you and I,” Paul mused. “Except I’m naturally talented and have the lead in a big budget musical.”

“I have my own television show,” Wayne huffed.

“I’ve had about four, mate,” Paul sneered.

Wayne looked like he wanted to say something but instead stormed out of the green room.

“You never change,” Greg mused, turning to Paul.

“Hey, the boy has to learn that he’s not the star of the show, that you all are,” Paul declared as he got to his feet.

“I agree,” Ryan nodded.

“Five minutes guys,” Drew announced, bounding into the room, Paul said a quick goodbye and left the room to find the girls.

---

“Who do you think’ll be on first?” Gina asked

“Well, Ryan and Colin obviously and I imagine Brady,” Fenny replied.

“If Brad’s on I might go hunt out Greg,” Gina breathed.

“You really going to talk to him?” Fenny said in a hushed voice.

“Yeah, I have to,” Gina nodded as Paul appeared and shuffled through the crowds to fall into the seat between Fenny and Gina.

“Have you had a productive afternoon, then?” Gina asked.

“Yes, I think I sufficiently crushed Wayne’s ego.” Paul grinned.

“While significantly inflating your own,” Fenny chided.

“It was a necessary evil,” Paul shrugged.

“What, like Christmas, babies, and Texas?” Fenny mused.

Paul sniggered, “The nastiness that comes out of your mouth.”

“Oh I could be so crude,” Fenny smirked.

Gina cracked up laughing. “Yes, I can see where that one would have went.”

“I’ll just nod and agree,” Paul perked.

“Shut up now,” Fenny ordered and slapped Paul’s arm.

“Ow,” Paul whimpered and copped an annoyed look from Fenny as Ryan, Colin, Wayne and Brad were introduced to the audience.

---

About an hour into the taping, when Brad and Wayne were singing about crockery, Gina decided she’d escape to find Greg.

“I need to pee, I’ll be back,” she whispered to Paul, and quickly hurried out from her seat and into the corridor. She looked toward the green room and then the toilets and decided she actually did need to go and started walking in that direction.

---

---

“Gina.”

She stopped and looked back down the corridor, it was Greg looking slightly baffled. Her heart skipped a beat and she pushed the need to pee to the back of her mind.

“Greg,” she mumbled, more nervous than she could explain.

“What are you doing here?” he asked as he walked over.

“I came with Fen and Paul, to see Brad,” Gina replied.

“I know, I was chatting to Paul. I don’t know why I asked, quite frankly,” Greg said with a small smile.

“Yeah,” Gina nodded and they fell silent for a few seconds. “I, um, wanted to apologise for running off the other day.”

“Hey, no, completely understandable man. I shouldn’t have kissed you,” Greg breathed.

“No, you shouldn’t have,” Gina agreed, trying to avoid his eyes.

They fell into another uncomfortable silence.

“Do you wanna go somewhere and talk?” Greg asked.

“Could we?” Gina replied.

Greg looked around. “This way,” he announced and led her to an empty office. Greg sat himself in a swivel chair, while Gina sat herself on the desk.

“I’ve been thinking about us, you…this whole fucking situation,” Gina began.

“So have I. I can see you love Paul. I don’t want to make life awkward for you,” Greg cut in.

“I do a good enough job of that on my own,” Gina mused. “The thing is, I don’t want to block you out of my life. We have a strange kind of bond and I would hate to lose that.”

“But you’re not leaving Paul,” Greg countered.

“This might sound completely odd, and I know they say once you’ve done it, it’s never the same. But I would do anything for us to stay friends.”

“Friends,” he almost laughed.

“You make it sound so crazy, if I can’t have you as a lover, I’d like you as a friend,” she huffed.

“You can have me as a lover,” he teased.

“Greg, I’m serious.”

“Gina, I would love for us to be friends, but I don’t know if I can be just that around you,” he declared. “I can’t just stop being in love with you.”

She fought both a smile and the desire to kiss him. “You’ve so gotta work at getting over that.”

“Like you got over me?” he countered.

“Do I look like I’m over you?” Gina huffed and caught his eye. “Why do you think I’m here now?”

“The old ‘let’s be friends’ routine, when in reality, you’ll fuck off back to Australia and live your happy little life with Pauly while I try and fix the marriage I fucked up for you,” Greg spat.

Gina averted her eyes from his. She couldn’t handle the pain they reflected. “I never asked you to leave your wife,” she scorned and there was another uncomfortable silence.

“If Paul hadn’t been on the scene, would we have had a chance?” Greg asked, breaking the silence.

Gina looked at him instantly. “Without a doubt, we could have run off to Mongolia and raised goats.”

Greg smiled and leaned forward to put a hand on her knee. “As much as it’s going to kill me, I’d like us to be friends.”

“Thank you,” Gina smiled, entwining her hand with his.

---

---

“Genie’s taking a while,” Paul whispered to Fenny.

“She drank a lot,” Fenny shrugged.

“Fen,” Paul said in a hushed voice. “You can’t lie to me.”

Fenny caught Paul’s eye and he raised an eyebrow. She felt her self crumble under pressure. “She wanted to talk to Greg, to end things, I swear.”

“I might go for a prowl,” Paul mumbled and slid out of his seat. Fenny crossed her fingers and hoped her prediction about Gina having her legs in the air was wrong.

---

“We should get back before someone comes looking,” Greg announced, slipping out of the swivel chair and heading toward the door.

“So you definitely want to attempt being friends?” Gina asked as she hopped off the desk.

“Do you think we could just walk away?”

“What do you think’ll be better in the long run?” she asked.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Walking away. If we try and be friends it’s just going to prolong the inevitable,” Greg said seriously as Gina wandered over to him.

“We always said if we got in this position it’d end in tears,” Gina sighed.

“And it’d hurt,” Greg agreed.

They stood avoiding each other for a moment, until they both looked up at the same time. Gina stepped forward, slid her hand onto Greg’s cheek and brought her lips to his. He kissed her back without hesitation, his arms wrapping around her and pulling her close. Both her arms were soon around his neck, as they became lost in the embrace.

---

---

Paul sauntered down the corridor, not quite sure where to go. He walked past several offices, stopped and then walked backwards. He felt his entire body go tense as he watched Gina and Greg playing tonsil hockey through the glass panelling. He’d trusted her, and defended her, and here she was exchanging saliva with Proops. Paul had put up with a lot, but this was the camel that broke the squaw’s back!

---

A break was called and Fenny scurried out of the audience before any of the preteens decided to engulf her and she was stuck listening to yet another conversation about how gorgeous Brad was, sexy Ryan was, adorable Colin was and talented Wayne was. She headed toward the green room to hunt out Brad, to tell him how particularly cheeky he was being and how un-sexy that shade of green his shirt was. Fenny stopped to glance around for Paul, Gina or Greg but didn’t see any of them. She was about to waltz into the green room when she noticed Brad was a short way down a quiet corridor with Ella and Lilly. She noticed a vending machine in close proximity and tiptoed down to it, and hid so she could listen.

 

“So you found a house, then?” Brad perked.

“Yeah, it’s perfect. Big yard, close to some great school facilities,” Ella enthused.

“What more could you ask for,” Brad mused and stopped to coo at Lilly.

“Are you still going to move?” Ella asked.

“Of course, I’ve already put a deposit on a place,” Brad grinned.

“Does Fenny know?” Ella queried.

“No, I only just found out I got the house.”

“Brad, this is all very endearing. What if Fenny doesn’t want to move to Montana?”

“That’s her problem. I’m going anywhere my little girl is.”

“You can’t just give up your life for Lilly,” Ella admonished.

“Lilly is my life, Ella. Anything else is just a bonus,” Brad countered.

“I think you should talk things over with Fenny before you make any big changes.”

“Why? Lilly has nothing to do with Fenny, Lilly is my child and my priority.”

“Don’t say I haven’t warned you,” Ella breathed.

 

Fenny slid down the wall to the floor, completely in shock. She had been living under the misapprehension that Brad gave a damn about her. She felt like a total idiot, taken for a ride by a selfish bastard who probably wasn’t going to tell her he was moving to fucking Montana to play happy families with the world’s nicest woman and their evil spawn love child.

---

---

“Fen.”

Fenny looked up and noticed Brad looking down at her.

“What are you doing down there?” Brad asked.

Fenny glared at him as she slowly got to her feet. What was it Paul had said, don’t be a victim. Well, he always seemed to be right and to hell if she was going to let Sherwood walk all over her.

---

---

“Shit,” Gina hissed as she pulled away from Greg.

“Sorry,” Greg mumbled. “What am I apologising for, you kissed me,” he smirked.

“We’ve got to get back,” Gina announced as Greg opened the door. “Paul is going to be…” Her voice trailed off as Paul stood in the doorway, arms crossed and a fierce expression on his face.

“Oh fuck,” Greg breathed.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Gina pleaded.

“Well, it looks like you had your tongue halfway down his esophagus,” Paul spat.

“Paul, man, it was an accident,” Greg announced.

“Oh what, you tripped and your mouths fell together?” Paul hissed.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen,” Gina breathed.

“Well it fucking did,” Paul snapped. “You promised me it was over, you told me there was nothing between you two.”

“There’s not, I swear,” Gina begged.

“Don’t lie to me, I’m sick of your fucking lies. Admit it, you’re not over him, this whole time we’ve been back together you’ve been thinking of him,” Paul hissed.

“Would I have been with you if I’d wanted him?” Gina spat.

“I’ve heard that before,” Paul spat back.

“Do you honestly think I’m that shallow?” Gina snapped.

“Yes Gina, I do fucking think you’re that shallow,” Paul barked and turned and headed toward the exit.

Gina stood shaking, speechless and trying not to burst into tears.

“Well, go and follow him,” Greg ordered. She looked at him blankly for a moment and then hurried off in the direction Paul had gone.

---

---

“What’s wrong?” Brad asked, noting the disgruntled look on Fenny’s face.

“Hmm, let me think,” Fenny breathed. “Could it be that the man I thought I was going to marry is moving to another state and hadn’t actually told me.”

“Oh, you overheard,” Brad swallowed

“Oh yes,” Fenny sneered.

“I was going to tell you tonight.”

“Big fucking deal Brad, you don’t give a damn how I feel or what I think anyway.”

“Fen, that’s not true.”

“Yes it is, I heard you telling Ella.”

“I was just…”

“No, no you weren’t just. You were telling it like it is and you know what, now it’s my turn,” Fenny hissed.

“Fen, I didn’t mean it to sound the way it did,” Brad pleaded.

“Shut up and listen to me,” Fenny barked, Brad was startled and swallowed again. “I’ve put up with a lot of shit from you, from that shit with Ritza, to you treating me like crap because something better came along.”

“I thought we were over this.”

“Oh we’re over it, in fact, we’re over Bradley. I can handle a lot of things. I was even prepared to handle Lilly, much as the thought disgusts me. But I cannot and will not be treated like shit to suit your ego. So, now you’re free to go and coo all over your precious child, and I’m going to go back into the world and regain the life I’d all but given up for you,” Fenny declared, before she turned and walked away.

“FEN,” Brad called, but she didn’t look back, she kept walking until she made it back to her car, where she promptly slid behind the wheel and burst into tears. It was liberating to not be a victim, but it hurt like hell too.

---

---

“Paul, will you listen to me for a moment,” Gina pleaded as she marched behind him into the apartment.

“Do you honestly think there is anything left to discuss?” Paul scorned.

“Of course there is,” Gina replied, following him into the bedroom, where he grabbed his bag and started packing his stuff. “What are you doing?”

“I need to get out of this fucked up country.”

“Now?”

“The quicker the better, darlin’.”

“I don’t want you to leave.”

“You think I give a fuck right now what you want?”

“I can hope, can’t I?”

Paul thrust several shirts into his bag and stopped to look at her. “I can’t believe I honestly thought our relationship might actually work.”

“It does work,” Gina huffed.

“So well that you have to keep running back to Proops,” Paul scorned.

“I don’t go running to him, he comes running to me,” Gina retorted.

“You went to him tonight, Fen told me.”

“I wanted to end it properly.”

“Yeah, you did that brilliantly.”

“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“But it did, and it’s not the first time. I mean you fucked him back in Australia, you told me in the note you left. Hell, I’m sure you found some time to fuck him here as well.”

“Paul.”

“And you sucked face at the beach the other day.”

“He initiated that.”

“You kissed him back.”

“I don’t love him.”

“Yeah, well you’ve got a funny way of showing it.”

Gina sat on the bed miserably and grabbed Paul’s watch from the bedside table. “Please don’t leave,” she said in a whispered tone.

“I’m not staying here. Besides, I’ve got to finish rehearsing before the musical opens,” Paul replied and held out his hand for his watch.

“I don’t want to throw away everything we’ve worked so hard to get back,” Gina breathed and reluctantly handed the watch over.

Paul stared at her for a moment and let out a sigh. “The way I feel right now, I could walk out of here and be happy never to see you again.”

Gina felt her eyes prick with tears.

“If you mean what you say, which I’m not holding my breath about, then come back to Australia with me now and we will talk. If you choose to stay here, then don’t expect to see me again unless it’s in divorce court,” Paul announced.

“You told me never to let you give me an ultimatum again,” Gina breathed.

“It’s not an ultimatum, it’s a choice,” Paul said as he zipped up his bag.

---

Fenny arrived back at the apartment, only then remembering about Gina and Paul. She noticed Mochrie chewing on one of Brad’s sneakers and went to retrieve it, then decided not to as she noticed a note on the coffee table with her name on it. Fenny ripped open the envelope and unfolded the letter.

---

Fenny was stunned, and had the sudden feeling of being alone. She shoved the letter in her pocket and wandered into the bedroom. She sunk to her knees and pulled her suitcase out from under the bed and began to throw all her clothes into it. She didn’t want to give Brad the opportunity to coax her back, to woo her and turn her against everything she believed in. Fenny was surprised at how little she’d accumulated, and it took her only twenty minutes to have all her belongs packed in the car. She hunted Jaguar out from where he was hiding on a kitchen chair and locked him in his cat carrier before she stopped to give Mochrie, who was looking bewildered, a hug.

Fenny took one last look around the apartment before she switched off the light and walked out. She placed Jaguar on the passenger seat and started the engine. The rain had gotten heavier. She felt the drive to her parents was going to be a long one and the ten million questions she’d be forced to answer would be hell. Anything would be better than having to face Brad when he got home.

“You ready, Jag?” Fenny sighed and she pulled out of the parking lot.

---

Brad felt drained by the time he got home. He unlocked the door and was shocked that everything seemed so still and quiet, apart from Mochrie who’d left pieces of one of his favorite sneakers scattered around the apartment. Brad curiously walked to the guestroom. The door was open and he noticed that all of Paul and Gina’s things were gone. Something struck him and he hurried to his own room. He noticed the moose was gone, the one that usually sat on the bed. She was gone and he couldn’t believe it. He caught sight of a piece of paper on his pillow. It was torn from Fenny’s sketch book. He sunk onto the bed as he read it.

 

Brad screwed up the note and chucked it across the room. He had only been trying to do what was right for Lilly, he hadn’t meant to hurt Fenny. He loved her as much if not more than Lilly. He rested his head in his hands and did something a man just doesn’t do — he cried.

---