Title: Closure

Author: Mindy35

Rating: T, bad words, adult concepts

Disclaimer: Not mine, no money made.

Pairing(s): Jack/Avery, Jack/Liz

Spoilers: "Mrs Donaghy".

Summary: Jack gets closure on his relationship with Avery after divorcing Liz.

II.

Jack found Avery in his study, at his desk, sipping a glass of his most prized port. He crossed the floor and lay the divorce papers on the desktop in front of her with a proud smile.

She didn't look up. But her brows lifted as she took a look at them. "Wow...So you actually did it."

"I told you I would," he replied, rocking on his heels. "I told you I'd fix this."

"I'm impressed…" she muttered, her voice lagging from drink. "You actually divorced the woman you love for the woman you accidentally got pregnant. Nice, Jack, very cut-throat."

He gave a baffled laugh. "What? What're you talking about? You are the woman I love. I did this for you, so that we could marry."

Avery sat back in his chair, meeting his gaze with casual disdain. "You don't love me, Jack. You love to fuck me. You love to play mind games with me. You love how my name sounds coming out of your mouth. You love how I fill out a dress, how I look on your arm. You love the impressed looks on people's faces when we are seen together." She opened a drawer, grabbed a magazine from inside and flung it onto the desktop. "You love that we made Bulb's List of Top Ten Power Couples of 2010."

"And 2011," Jack murmured. "Decision pending."

"And that's fine," she went on, giving a careless shrug. "I'm fine with that, Jack. Because that's exactly what I love about you too. What you do for me. How we look together. That what we have doesn't go too deep. We are two shallow, ruthless, ambitious people. And we could have a perfectly successful union if you didn't feel the abnormal need to romanticize everything, make this into something it's not."

Jack shook his head. "That's not what I do. That's not what this is."

"Sure it is. You've been doing it from the very beginning." She took a long sip of her drink, beginning to rock back and forth in the plush leather chair. "I dunno, maybe it has something to do with the whole Catholic guilt thing. You know? In order to justify fucking me, and loving to fuck me, let's face it, you had to make like you were in love with me. Then, in order to feel absolved from getting me pregnant out of wedlock, and gasp-!" she put a hand over her mouth, eyes wide with mockery, "what would dear old Mommy think of that...? - you decide to marry me. Despite all the laws of common sense that go against it." She swung the chair to one side and got to her feet, one hand supporting her belly. "Meanwhile," she went on, rounding the desk towards him, "the woman you actually have real feelings for, you verbally belittle on a daily basis. The woman you love, you won't even allow yourself to touch. What is that about, Jack? Huh? More dormant Catholic guilt? You love her too much to inflict yourself on her physically? You respect her too much to expose your real desire to her? Is that it? Is sweet, old Liz your Madonna, Jackie? And what exactly does that make me?"

Jack drew in a breath. "You're drunk, Avery."

"I'm also right," she humphed. Coming to stop in front of him, she let one hand skate up his chest as she continued on, voice insidiously silky. "I'll just bet you hate the woman for getting under your skin like that too, am I right? Making you feel things you shouldn't, for someone you don't want to? S'that the reason for the incessant insults, Jack? Safer to keep her at a distance, huh? Safer not to let her love you, not to let her know what you really want?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered, spine stiff. "I don't feel that way about Lemon. I don't…want her."

Avery scoffed in his face. "Jeez! Come on, Jack! You can barely even say the word and her name in the same sentence."

"I don't want Lemon," he insisted, frowning. "I don't desire…Liz. Not in any way."

"Oh please." She turned on her heel, heading for the drinks tray. "You're so screwed up, you don't even know what you want."

"I want you," he said, eyes trailing her. "I love you."

"You don't know how to love, Jack. That's the truth. That's why you picked me. Because neither of us do." She turned to face him, cradling her drink on top of her baby bump. "At least I'm man enough to admit that. At least I have guts enough to live without it." She took a sip, a creeping smile on her face. "Not you though, Jack. You need love, you crave it. And yet…you just signed away your last chance at it. And for what? For us?"

"Yes," he nodded. "For us."

Avery looked like she was about to laugh, her eyes twinkling with incredulous delight. "Why? We're a game, that's all. A fun game, a sexy game, a mutually beneficial game - don't get me wrong. But just a game. Nothing more. Not love. Not-" she waved her glass at him sloppily, "Not anything like you already had with your precious little Lemon person."

"You're wrong," he said, moving towards her, taking her hands in his. "What I had with Lemon was…it was child's play. We're the real thing. You're the one. I've never felt for Liz or anyone even half of what I feel for you."

"Oh no?" She peered up at him, lifting her glass to her lips.

"Of course not," he told her, eyes on hers.

Avery was silent, holding his gaze. Then she asked: "So what happened at her apartment tonight?"

Jack drew back slightly.

"That is where you've just come from, isn't it, Jack?"

He stepped round her, began to pour himself a drink. "You shouldn't be drinking this stuff. You shouldn't be drinking at all."

"I'll take that as a yes," she muttered, moving back to the desk.

"Avery-"

"So what happened? What happened when you two signed your lives away?"

"Nothing happened," he mumbled, taking a large sip of scotch.

"Don't lie to me, Jack. I was an investigative reporter for five years, I can smell a scoop a mile off." She lowered herself back into his chair, licking her lips in relish. "So dish. Come on, don't be shy. Tell the lady you like to fuck about the lady you just can't live without."

Jack turned to her, ran his gaze over the length of her before letting his eyes drop to the carpet. "I…I kissed Liz. We…kissed each other. That is all."

"How sweet," she mused. "And…?"

He downed the rest of his drink then dropped the glass back to the tray with a loud crash. "And what? And nothing."

"No, I mean…" She wiggled up straighter in her seat, face lit with sadistic expectation. "How was it? Huh? After all these years. And please, don't spare any detail."

"Avery."

"Also, may I remind you before you answer that you've already cheated on me once in this relatively short relationship – a relationship that is about to end, by the way. To not be forthcoming now would be very bad form, though hardly a huge surprise."

Jack was silent a long moment. Finally, he spread his hands and revealed in a slow, low voice, "Honestly? It was…incredible. Intense. The most-…I've never felt anything like it in my whole life."

Avery nodded slowly. "And yet…-" She picked up the papers on the desk, showing him the two signatures, side by side, that severed his alliance with Liz. She rose, tearing the papers to pieces as she stalked towards him. When she reached him, she shoved them against his chest, telling him, "You're an idiot, Jack. And I deserve better than an idiot. This baby deserves better than to have a fool and a coward for a father." Then she headed for the door.

"Avery, please. Don't do something we both might regret."

"I think it's too late for that." She turned on the threshold to face him. "If you think I'm going to be the third Mrs Donaghy, if you think I'm going to stick around to be publically humiliated by this, if you think I'm still planning to marry you after this pathetically transparent mess, then you are as bonkers as your weird little friend. Still-" she grabbed her coat from a nearby chair and slung it over herself, "a week or two and I'll be over it. But you'll have to live the rest of your life with the knowledge that you found the love you so desperately wanted…and threw it away. And all for a color picture on page three of Cigar Aficionado."

"I'm not the one throwing this away, Avery," Jack answered, voice rising with desperation. "I'm trying to save it."

She sent him a pitying look. "I wasn't talking about us." Then she walked away, adding: "See you in the press, Jack."

Jack unclenched his fists, letting the remnants of two shattered relationships fall at his feet.

END.