Covering Bases

consequences.

Bradley took her purse from the dressing room and was ready to leave UBA for good. She was walking down the hall when she saw Alex's room. She paused, thinking about her next move. Bradley could leave without a trace or she could tell Alex everything. Without another thought, Bradley found herself knocking on the door.

"I just need a minute." Alex said from across her room.

Bradley didn't care what Alex needed. She didn't even care about what she herself needed. Why? Because a woman is dead and it was all for her own personal motivations. "Bradley the truth teller" she heard Alex's words ring through her ears.

"I'm leaving. I'm done with all of this. With you, the network, I'm fucking done." Bradley said seriously.

"What?" Alex replied. Her brows furrowed with confusion.

"I was going to interview Mitch today. There was a whole plan in place to sneak him onto the set. After seeing how poorly you reacted to interviewing Mitch at all, it made me want to undermine you. And now, Hannah is dead because I couldn't leave well enough alone. She killed herself because I decided to fucking pry into her life even though I saw she was hurting." Bradley explained emotionally. It was clear she was being pulled into different directions mentally.

"I... Hannah? Mitch assaulted her?" Alex asked, tears clinging to her waterline. 

"Like you didn't know?! What about the "boys club" and all the unspoken rules bullshit you were throwing at me two nights ago?!" Bradley felt herself becoming irate by the second. Alex was so confident telling her how anything to do with Mitch should stay buried. It pissed Bradley off.

"I don't even care to hear it, Alex. I'm out of here." Bradley continued as she walked out of the room.

As Bradley walked out of the older woman's dressing room, she could feel her blood rushing through her veins. She quickly walked into the elevator doors and hit the main floor button. She could hear Alex calling her name as the doors closed. Save it, Alex. Bradley thought to herself.

After a minute, the elevator doors parted and Bradley walked straight out of the building. She was walking down the sidewalk as she heard Alex calling and running towards her.

"Bradley, wait! Please, don't go." Alex pleaded as she continued walking.

"Why shouldn't I?! Really, give me a reason, Alex."

"Because, Bradley, I need you. I need you to help me get through this show." Alex said looking into Bradley's eyes.

"Oh, so the great Alex Levy actually wants my help?! Wow, you know what? I'll just fucking drop everything because I'm so honoured!" Bradley said, every word dripping with sarcasm.

"You have every right to be angry with me. I met with Fred fucking Micklen to try and get you fired!" Alex yelled. "That's how bad of a fucking person I am!"

"Well, Alex, you got your way. You don't have to kiss Fred's ass anymore, I'm out of here, for good." Bradley started to walk away from Alex when her co-host grabbed her arm. Her natural reaction was to yank her arm from Alex's grip, but the older woman seemed so broken. Her eyes held depths of emotion that she had never seen in Alex before.

"Please, just come back up with me. Bradley, I need you. I know I made a mistake."

"Fine, okay." Bradley said.

"Thank you." Alex said softly. "What happened to Hannah, Bradley, isn't your fault."

Bradley felt as if she was on the longest emotional roller coaster ride, ever. Like most of their interactions, there were ups and down when they spoke. Both women silently walked back into the elevator.

The door opened and both the anchors were immediately met with crew members reminding them of the time and offering help. One of the men was Marlon. He had told Bradley that grief councillors were available if she needed one.

I'm going to fucking strangle this guy... Bradley thought to herself as she stared him down. Tate got the hint and finally walked away from her. Good.

Bradley was standing in the hall on her own. She agreed to come back up here with Alex, but wanted so badly to disappear without a trace. As Bradley's conscious was teetering between the two options, she felt a presence behind her. The woman quickly turned around and saw Cory.

"Hey, Bradley, can you give me a couple minutes of your time?" Cory asked warily.

"Yeah, let's go to the dressing room." Bradley responded softly. She didn't mean to snap at Cory before. There was so much stress in Bradley's life and she took it out on him.

Cory opened the dressing room door, holding it open for Bradley as they walked in. Bradley didn't bother sitting down, she knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to leave the poisonous and corrupt work environment.

"If this is about earlier, I didn't mean to snap at you.." Bradley said as she was cut off by Cory moving towards her and wrapping his arms around the woman.

"I'm sorry about Hannah. I know how much this has been weighing on you." Cory said into her ear. Bradley felt her whole body respond with an internal shiver. He was right.

"It's all my fault." Bradley felt tears slipping from her eyes. She leaned into him more and he held her tighter.

"This wasn't your fault, Bradley. None of this would've happened if it weren't for Mitch."

"And me. Cory, you didn't see the pain in her eyes when I interview her. I knew she was having a hard time talking about what happened, and I decided to keep pushing her. I'm the reason she relived her trauma." Bradley said as she reluctantly pulled away from him.

"That's why I'm out of here. I'm not doing the interview, Cory." She continued. Cory's brows furrowed slightly.

"You can't leave, Bradley. Just because things are bad right now, doesn't mean you should run away from the fight." Cory said. Bradley knew that Cory cared for her, but she'd be naive to believe he cared about her more than himself.

Bradley laughed sarcastically. "Oh, right. I forgot your promotion was the only thing you cared about in all this."

"Come on, Bradley. You're upset and I understand that. But, if you leave with the evidence that you have against Fred and the network, things will never change. You gotta know that." He paused for a moment, watching her process what he was saying.

"And for the record, the promotion was never the only thing I cared about." Cory added.

Bradley watched Cory walkout to leave her with her thoughts. Fred was solely responsible for covering up Mitch Kessler's misconduct. Hannah turned to him for help. Instead, she learned how things really worked, the hard way. Would her death be in vain if Bradley didn't hold them accountable?
...
Bradley was changing into a maroon pantsuit for the show. Mia came to check in on her to make sure she was ready for the show. Bradley had five minutes until she was supposed to be beside Alex. Bradley walked into the studio and sat down in her seat. A million thoughts were swirling in her mind. Was she going to blow up the network or stay quiet? She decided to see how everything will play out naturally.
****

I absolutely love writing this story! (especially Cory and Bradley!)
Things are about to pick up quickly!!

Leave any thoughts in the comments (:

-nova w.