Love Is A Waiting Game

Chapter 6

The Re-Union

Jen was still on a high from her personal re-union with David and meeting Cleo as she arrived at the Stage 24 door, her smile radiant and her energy bright and bouncy as ever. As the director called "action" and she entered the set it crashed into her like a tsunami. The smell. The way the sound moved through the vast, open space. The lights that beamed down and danced through all the tiny dust fairies. She had stepped through the door to her past.

Memories started flooding her brain and none of them were of the good times. The corner over there where she had sobbed in total despair after the Rachel and Ross break up scene, knowing full well that it signaled the end of the opportunities for her and David to enjoy the on-screen closeness they had come to rely on so much. The corridor where she had awkwardly broken the news to David about her engagement and been devastated to see the intense hurt in his eyes. And the audience stands, where she had looked out on that final day of filming, silently begging her husband to be there, knowing he wasn't, and trying to hide the stabbing pain in her heart as she finally acknowledged to herself that her marriage was failing.

Her heart started racing. She could hear the blood rushing through her veins and her stomach was turning somersaults. "Oh shit! Hold it together, hold it together, just breathe, just breathe" the voice in her head was instructing. Her legs were doing their best to carry her forwards. She could just about make out Lisa through her blurred vision. "Floof!" Just get to Lisa she thought, one step at a time. She almost collapsed into her embrace but then her eyes connected with David who stood a few steps beyond. "Help me" she silently willed him to hear through her intense gaze. And he did. He moved in and collected her tightly in his arms, rubbing her back and holding her close to him so she wouldn't collapse. He could feel her shoulders shaking in desperate sobs, her tears hot against his chest. "It's ok, it's ok" he whispered over and over into her hair as he caught the attention of Ben and signaled to cut quickly.

As soon as the cameras had stopped rolling he gently guided her to the side, behind the wall of the set so she was not on show to the entire crew, and held her tightly as she cried. After a few minutes he could feel the shaking start to calm and the tension slowly release from her body.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry" she repeated over and over as she raised her head from his soggy chest. "I have no idea what came over me. I was fine until I stepped in here then wham! It was like I had been hit by a ton of bricks, and I couldn't breathe and I couldn't see and I.....I......." A lump started to form in her throat again and David could see her desperately trying to hold back more tears. "All I saw were the bad times. The things I had wanted to forget, the things that nearly broke me....... and almost broke you. Oh God, I never wanted to hurt you" she said as another loud sob escaped from her throat.

"Hey, it's ok, it's ok" he said again in his low, reassuring voice, his arms still wrapped around her, his hand caressing the small of her back as he continued to help her regain her composure.

Ben poked his head subtly round the corner of the set wall and David motioned to give them a couple more minutes but gave a thumbs up to indicate that all would be ok.

As her tears finally dried and her self-control returned, David freed her from his grip and held both of her hands in his. "Look, today is going to be emotional for all of us" he advised, looking deep into her red, bloodshot eyes "but I've got your back. If you need a break, or you're finding it too tough, just give me a sign and I'll take you out. And Jenny, let's stop beating ourselves up about the past. Re-living it won't change it. We could both have done a lot of things differently, but we are where we are and right now, I couldn't be happier that I get to spend 2 days with you and the gang, enjoying our memories, making new ones and then who knows, maybe even getting that alone time we keep promising each other."

A weak smile spread across Jen's face as she studied the man in front of her. How had she let him get away all those years ago? He knew how to make her feel safe, protected, happy. He knew how to read her; when to talk and when silence was required. He knew how to challenge her and how to calm her, how to make her laugh or cry with his words and his gestures. He knew how to love her. She kissed him tenderly on the lips and whispered "Thank you. Thank you for everything" then used her thumb to remove the smudge of lipstick from his mouth, before allowing him to lead her gently by the hand back towards the set.

He left her safely having her make up refreshed, and grabbed Ben for a quiet chat, before rejoining Jen and Lisa, who were once again locked in a warm hug. "Ben is going to have his team do some fantastic editing he announced, "so when you're ready we can pick up where we left off, which I think was in my arms not yours" he joked to Lisa, stealing Jen from her grip and wrapping her tightly back in his. "So what do you say, shall we enjoy this now.... together?" he asked, and her determined "Let's do this" reply was everything he needed to know.