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Chapter 7

"What are you doing here, Sean?"

His presence certainly gets the attention of everyone in the room. The tired tone of Vic's voice and the irritation on his face do nothing to dissuade it.

"You know why I'm here. And I wouldn't have had to come if you would bother to answer the phone or return my calls." He responds stonily, barely glancing at the others.

"Then you're wasting your time, because I haven't had a chance to talk to a lawyer." Vic tells him. She isn't going to fight him on the divorce, but she isn't planning to just blindly sign the papers either.

"What do you need a lawyer for? The division is fair; just sign the papers!" Sean snaps.

"I told you, I'm not signing the damn papers!" She hisses heatedly, standing from her desk.

Branch looks carefully between them, waiting to see how it plays out, as Walt appears in the doorway to his office, taking in the scene.

"Why are you being difficult about this?" Sean asks, barely glancing sideways at the appearance of Walt.

"Difficult?" She exclaims incredulously, venom seeping into her voice. "You haven't begun to see difficult, Sean. I'm not being unreasonable; besides the fact that I don't speak lawyer, I'll sign the papers when there's an agreement about the baby." She continues, glaring at him.

"For God's sake, Vic, the way you run around with Longmire, how do I even know this kid is mine?!" He shouts, flinging his hands open in an I-don't-know fashion.

It was the wrong thing to say. Branch thinks he knows it even before the words fully register. Ferg freezes. Ruby's jaw drops quietly in shock. Walt straightens, jaw tight, looking like he's getting really, really tired of keeping his opinion out of Vic's marriage. And Vic, well, Branch is surprised that fire doesn't actually shoot out of her eyes, that steam doesn't really come out of her ears. He's not surprised, however, at her violent reaction. He contemplates it himself.

"You son of a…" Vic mutters, seeing red and lunging in the second following Sean's insinuation.

Branch reacts reflexively, catching her around the waist even as she tries to get past him, arms swinging outward to attack, falling short of their target. There's some measure of satisfaction in seeing Sean take a step back, though.

"Easy." Branch murmurs as she begins to settle slightly, before he cautiously loosens his hold on Vic, then releases her completely, still keeping himself between her and Sean. When he's sure she won't launch herself past him as soon as his attention is diverted, he turns to focus on the outcast in the room.

"You and I don't know each other very well, Sean, so to be fair I'm going to assume you're going through something right now; that you're upset and not thinking clearly, but if I were you, I'd be careful how you talk about my friend." The warning is clear in the hard edge of Branch's voice, eerily calm. "Otherwise, I might just let her kick your sorry ass." He continues, hearing Vic take a deep breath behind him, catching her folding her arms in his peripheral vision as she steps closer.

It's even more satisfying than the step back to see the other man's face flush with emotion, silent now with nothing more to say.

"I think it's time for you to go now, Sean." Walt speaks up, voice firm, the same razor-edged calm of Branch's. It seems to remind Sean of where he is and that everyone is staring at him. That he's on the losing end of this particular battle.

"You know what," Sean shakes his head, voice quieter now. "It's not worth it. I just came to talk to you about the papers, so talk to a lawyer or call mine or whatever…" He tells Vic.

"Just go." Vic returns, voice hard. Her faces burns in embarrassment and she runs a hand over her hair when he's out of sight. This was the Sheriff's Office, not marriage counseling.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think he'd come here like that." She says, looking at Walt.

"Not your fault." Walt nods. "He gonna make trouble for you?" He asks.

Probably no more than he already has, Vic thinks. "No. I'll handle it." She tells him.

"You let me know if he does." He tells her, turning back for his office. Vic follows him, feeling like she should apologize for more than just Sean showing up in the office.

"He had no right to say what he did, about…" She begins. She'd had no idea Sean would stoop to such accusations.

"Sean has a problem with me, has had one with you working here. I'm sorry that's caused problems in your marriage." He says.

"There were problems in my marriage before I ever starting working here, Walt, and that's no one's fault but mine and Sean's, but it's about time I started dealing with it, so that's what I'm going to do. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what he said and I'll take care of it." She explains.

"Alright." Walt nods.

When Vic makes her way back to her desk she studiously ignores Ruby's concerned glance and Ferg trying not to stare in her direction.

"Okay?" Branch doesn't look up from his paperwork when she sits down, simply asks the question in the way he thinks she'll appreciate the most. No overbearing concern or coddling or questions.

"Yep." Vic responds, getting back to her own paperwork.

"Okay." He concludes.

They don't speak again until lunch time when Ruby herds her out of the office citing her need to eat. The nausea has become an undercurrent for the moment and Vic isn't sure if food is the best idea, but she also doesn't want to argue about it so she leaves when Branch does anyway.

"Why are you being nice to me?" She asks when they're sitting in the diner waiting for their food.

"Sorry, I'll do better if it's a problem." Branch responds, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't be an ass, I'm serious. Say we're friends, sure, but it's kind of weird; I'm not used to it." Vic continues, voicing a thought that had begun to creep in since the morning.

"Vic," He starts.

"And if it's because you feel bad for the pregnant lady whose husband's leaving her, I will shoot you." She interrupts quickly.

"Maybe I have a soft spot for pregnant women," He grins, seeing if she's up to take the bait. "And I don't much care for Sean's," he pauses. "…behavior." He finishes.

"So, what? Is it kind of like a macho thing? Now that I'm pregnant I need someone to stand up for me because I can't handle myself?" She bites, trying not to be offended.

"No, look, I would call us friends, Vic, and I think we'd make pretty good ones, too, given the chance, but besides that, it's not about feeling bad for you or thinking you can't take care of yourself. I just don't like when a man doesn't treat a woman the way he should and I have issues with bad fathers. Go figure, right? I guess this just brings it out in me." He explains, a little exasperated, shrugging.

She's not sure what she was expecting him to say, but she thinks it probably wasn't that and finds herself once again wondering just what all she doesn't know about the man sitting across from her.

"Okay." Vic replies, not really sure of how to respond. It's nice, sort of, to have people looking out for her. Branch only nods in acknowledgement and they drop the subject from the conversation.

"Thanks." Vic says later on their way back to work in a lull of quiet between them. "For being my friend." She continues when Branch looks at her expectantly.

"You're welcome." He grins, understanding her words as an olive branch.

Maybe they would make pretty good friends after all, Vic thinks. They seemed to be doing okay so far, at least.

So, in writing this chapter I realized I might've been a bit more biased against Sean than I originally thought. Oops. Anyway, we shouldn't be seeing anymore of him directly I don't think. I hope you liked the chapter! Please review!

Thanks!