Re: Shepard and Darcy
Shepard tried not to look as surprised as she was. She figured she would get a 'not in my house'. But she couldn't hide it too much. "I'd meant your rules. What you'd prefer, but thank you." She probably wouldn't 'ring' anyone at all, she was independent, and would likely make her own bed... But that meant she would have to leave the bed a mess. A mess brought on by PTSD dreams more likely than sex. For a split second the horror of it showed on her face. She had to stop herself from forcing her hands through her hair, but there was a clear twitch. "Don't make the bed. I can do that." It would be harder than he knew.
She was helplessly searching for common ground. But he couldn't know that. So with the nod, she said nothing more. She was so going to be labeled the mother-in-law from hell, she was sure of it.
Shepard shook her head. She'd let too much slip, let too much show. She didn't want an apology, she wanted a goddamn redo. But too much was too much, and she was finding that sobriety sucked. No matter the occasion. He didn't understand it, he probably never would. Ashley probably never would. At least not until they were put in the same situation.
But how he followed up had her grinding her teeth together to keep from raising her voice. The reminder that this was his house. "Now wait just a goddamned second, I didn't disown her. I was leaving. By the next solar system I was going to be damn near unreachable. Or things would take so long to reach the Normandy that there would be no point. I wasn't going to come back. I didn't think there was a reason to." Her eyes searched out Miguel. Someone else who had come to Pemberley to seek refuge from what the Station was doing to him. "Miguel talked me into coming back."
Shepard almost shot back, she almost did, but she saw the panicked look on his face when she looked back at him, and fists, that had balled tight enough that her carefully manicured nails bit into her palms enough to cause them to bleed, were forced to open. She kept her mouth shut for once. But he didn't understand. And he probably wouldn't. Hell Ashley probably wouldn't either. She wanted Rawdon there so she didn't make a bad situation worse. But it was already worse.
And this was why she didn't want to talk about it. If things turned out so bad that he had to excuse himself from her company... She sighed softly. "Sorry." She shot before he left. And as he escaped so did she, snagging quite a few flutes of wine as she went. Fuck sobriety. Kicking of the ridiculous shoes before she found the door out.