Ill Conceived Plans

Home is where the heart is

 THE world moved on and Dane moved quickly from filming to awards season and a packed US schedule including a few scenes for a movie he hadn't originally intended to be part of. All this meant any hope of getting home in the next month went flying out the window. Not that Sarah seemed to mind, she threw herself back into work and preparing for the Shakespeare anniversary, Bean too was oblivious and doing what fetuses did best – getting bigger and moving around – a lot -  making its presence felt, at least to its mother.

He rang her – when he could and she answered him – when she could - as he moved from Europe to the US. To his relief he missed her and to his greater relief, she missed him and actually seemed happy to hear from him.

She sent the pictures that he'd asked for, nothing Jennifer Lawrence-esque just her in a T-shirt to give him some idea of how his child was growing and even the odd video of a crazy bulge and movement in her abdomen caused by the rugby player who was obviously residing there and apparently using her bladder as a football. He noticed her ring in every shot, every video.

Other people noticed it too; to most the answer Sarah would give when asked about the mysterious appearance of the new hand decoration was "this old thing – something I've had for years and not worn", or to Dehlia and her RSC boss it was a Christmas present from her family (which was somewhat true) and to her friends and family it was just something that caught her eye. Though she suspected that Margaret had put two and two together and had slipped a few wedding magazines in with the baby ones she'd taken to dropping.

Athena knew the truth, she seemed to always know everything even if Sarah didn't tell her, she was sure her sister was going to be some sort of detective (and not just because she watched more Sherlock Holmes than was healthy) so there was no point in not telling her, after all, she'd just ask Dane and he'd sing like a canary.

The other person who knew for certain was Sabine and now Dane was in the US she was part of the equation. Actually, she had become part of the equation even before he'd left much to Dane's chagrin. Breaking the ice and wanting to reassure her counterpart the young French woman had sent a small toy with him from France to be given at such a time that he was sure her name wouldn't make Sarah curse or turn her into a toad or turn it into a voodoo doll or something.

It hadn't taken long really, well not in Sarah time – she'd rung Sabine to thank her (against his better judgement) and after an awkward minute or two Sarah had broken the ice with a "so you fucked Dane?" to which Sabine answered, "Yeah but I gave him back!"
And while he was out of range in Europe it seemed the two had bonded to the point they had in-jokes he was sure were at his expense. Sabine had rung Sarah for advice for her Henry V performance at the RSC, nervous to be making a stage debut with such a big company and an even bigger event and thankful for Sarah's recommendation. It was a performance that Sarah pitched to the director because it had made sense, was logical even at a time when Sarah thought Sabine would be better off filming somewhere on the other side of Europe, the planet – the universe. But Dane was a sensational Henry V, the romance scene would fit perfectly with the show and he had a French girlfriend just like Harry. So Sabine was to play the French princess to Dane's King Harry and now the hatchet had been buried (and not in Dane's head) Sarah was coaching her.

It made Dane a little uneasy not just because this was his "fake girlfriend" becoming just too gal-pal with the mother of his unborn child, his lover, his Fox but because these were two of the strongest and most independent women he knew (and he knew a lot and was related to most); this was an unholy alliance that could only lead to no good. What was that Doctor Who quote? The missus and the ex? Except Fox and Sabine would be more trouble together than Rose and Sarah Jane ever could be – universes would implode if those two were in the same room yet his PR Mark had encouraged it when he heard – it added authenticity to their backup sperm donor story and a possible explanation to why he and Sabine would eventually break up. Dane thought Mark just liked that it was messing with his head either that or he was still scared of Sarah or Sabine or both (he wouldn't blame him if he was).