DISCLAIMERS: in Part 1
Keeping Faith, Part 7
©2005 -Vertigo-
While nervously awaiting the rumble of Reece's Harley, Faith jumped out of her skin when the phone rang. Not wanting to be on the phone when Reece came home, she let the machine pick up. Cori's stern voice did nothing for her anxiety.
"Faith, I know you're there, and I won't hang up until you talk to me."
The actress walked slowly to the phone while Cori hummed the theme from Jeopardy. "What is bad timing, Alex."
Cori chuckled despite the seriousness of her call. "What exactly did you tell Reece about the script?"
"Not enough. Shit, Cor, this is bad! There are things in this movie I love, but then there are things I don't exactly feel comfortable with."
Cori's eyebrows went up. "Elaborate."
"The story is great. Meredith is a fantastic character, but the sex is just short of the Playboy Channel."
"Well, like I said, they wrote it for you. and if you like the rest, you probably have the clout to change the smut factor."
Faith grimaced, at the word smut. "I hope, but in any case, I have to tell Reece and I'm expecting her any minute. I'm just about ready to have a panic attack!"
"I just left her, she should be there any second, and the good news is she's in a pretty cool mood."
Faith's eyes widened. "Really?"
Cori screwed up her face. "Yeah, but then again, I don't know that there's any thing that could help break that kind of news to her. Good luck and if you need me, I'll be holding my cell in my hand all night."
Faith grumbled. "Great, now I'm scared all over again!"
"Aw hon, now you know she'll blow hard, but after hearing that you aren't comfortable with it, and are going to fix it she'll most likely mellow down a little bit."
"Oh god I hope." The sound of the Harley driving up put Faith into full panic mode. "Cori! She's here!"
"Relax! You're gonna be fine!"
Reece walked in just as Faith hung up the phone and she went right over and kissed her wife. "Did you finish the script?"
Faith watched silently as Reece went to the kitchen, grabbed a fork and opened the fridge. She pulled out a container of left-overs and began eating.
"I'm starved." she said between mouthfuls.
Faith, though nervous, decided it was now or never. "Reece, I need to tell you something and you're probably gonna want to put the food down."
Reece quirked an eyebrow and stopped chewing. "What's this about?"
"The script."
The club owner shoved another forkful into her mouth. "What about it? Don't you like it?" she asked between chews.
"Well..." Faith shifted her feet. "Yes and no."
Reece, getting tired of the stalling, put the food on the table and stared at her wife. "What is it you don't like?"
Faith swallowed hard. "The sex." she said, barely audible.
Reece's eyebrow went up and she cocked her head. "The what?" she asked carefully.
"The sex." Faith repeated, with a grimace.
Reece's chest seemed to expand and she lifted her chin. "The sex." she repeated, her jaw clenching tight. "What sex?"
Faith took stock of her extremely tense wife and thought for a moment how to reply. "My character, Meredith, has a love interest, Jesse, and they ... "
The fork Reece was holding bent into itself and her nostrils flared. "Really." she said through her teeth. "Are we talking about a kiss... or what, Faith?"
Her wife's barely controlled temper was just about to explode, and Faith couldn't answer this question without fireworks. "Um, naked sex. Reece there's no reason to fly off the handle..."
Reece slammed the bent fork down and gripped the counter with both hands. "No reason to fly off the handle?" she shouted, "My wife is going to be naked on the big screen with another woman, having SEX and there's no reason for me to fly off the handle?"
Faith winced, expecting it and seeing it were two different things. "Yeah, but Reece.."
"NO, that's fine! I mean it's all in the name of acting right? How many times do you have sex?"
"Three, but that's not the point..."
Reece stormed around the kitchen waving her arms wildly. "THREE? Fuck, Faith, WE don't even have sex three times in two hours!"
"If you just listen to me..."
Reece interrupted Faith again with another tirade. "Wow! Fantastic! Super! This is wonderful! You're going to be fucking some other woman for entertainment! I'm thrilled!"
"REECE! Let me finish one goddamned sentence!"
All Reece could see in her minds eye was Faith naked on a huge screen having sex with a faceless woman. "NO, you let me finish! Is that what you really want to do? To me?" She banged on the counter with both fists.
"Excuse me? To you?" Faith yelled.
"What? You didn't think about me? How I would feel?" The club owner shook her head to lose the images. "Did you think I'd be fucking happy for you? Did you think I'd jump up and down? Yay! My wife is gonna have sex! Yay!"
Although Reece jumping up and down and clapping was disturbing, Faith was really pissed. Reece wasn't allowing her a word in edgewise. "Would you just shut up a second and stop yelling?"
"NO, cuz I can't do shit about it! Do you want me to sit here and say with a smile that I'm okay with this? That you are going to be naked in front of a crew of pigs, and some strange woman will be touching you and I'm supposed to stop yelling and smile? Someone else will be smelling your neck, tasting your lips and my stomach burns and my head hurts and I can't do anything about it because It's your life and your movie?" Reece grabbed her stomach and turned away. "I have no say."
Faith's eyes welled up. She walked to her wife and stood inches behind her, feeling the heat come off her body, not sure she should touch her. "Baby, I don't want to do it either. I don't want to make you sick."
"Good then don't do the fucking movie."
"Reece, you mean more to me than anything, but, I want to do this movie, it's..."
Reece turned seething eyes to Faith. "Fine! Do the fucking movie!" she shouted, storming out of the kitchen.
"Reece! Don't you dare leave! I'm not finished!" The door slammed and Faith screamed out of frustration. "YOU NEVER LET ME FINISH!" she yelled, throwing the mangled fork across the kitchen.
Cori was already holding her cell phone in anticipation so when it rang she answered it in half a ring. "What happened?!" she practically yelled. Violet leaned close to hear the conversation.
Faith, frustrated beyond belief, and relieved to hear Cori's voice, burst into tears.
"Honey? Talk to me!" Hysterics was terribly un-Faith-like.
Faith composed herself. "It was awful. She didn't even care what I had to say, she just yelled and yelled."
"Where is she now?" Cori asked, as Violet rubbed her back.
"I have no idea, she slammed out a few minutes ago." Faith inspected the wall where the fork hit.
"What did you manage to say to her?"
"All I got out was that there was sex, that was the magic word. After that, she didn't care what I had to say. She didn't let me explain that I didn't want to do the sex either, all she heard was I liked the script and she freaked the hell out."
Cori shook her head. "Oh man... I knew this was gonna happen."
Violet leaned into the receiver and offered her opinion. "Maybe you should have started at the end first and worked your way to the middle?"
"Guys, I had no idea we couldn't talk like humans. Sure, now that sounds great, but really... who knew she'd cut me off at the knees every time I started to talk?"
Cori closed her eyes and sighed heavily. "She can't handle this. She can't handle the idea of you having sex, even if its fake, with someone else. My question is, what is she going to do about this?"
"She said her stomach hurt, Cor. She thinks I WANT to do this, it must be killing her." Faith eyes welled up imagining what Reece was feeling. "Shit, Cor, I hurt her." Faith's voice cracked with tears.
Cori sighed. "I'm coming over."
"No, you have to work, I don't know what happened a minute ago, I'm not exactly the weepy type. I'm okay now. I promise. She'll cool off and I'll be able to talk to her later."
"Faith, " Cori rolled her eyes, "Are you sure you want to be alone? I'll bring the alcohol."
Faith smiled despite her mood. "Nah, really, I'm okay. Reece is in a bad enough mood as it is. If you don't show up for work, she'll freak out on you too."
"Please. Pshaw. I can take her." She looked to Violet who's eyebrow Shot up in disbelief.
"I swear I'm fine. You're the best, Cor. Now get yourself ready for work, you're going to be late. Love you too, Vi."
Violet grabbed the phone. "Maybe I should come over? Huh? I'll bring Thelma and Louise and we can make it a family affair?"
Faith grinned. "Actually, I have a few phone calls to make, I need to fix this script or I won't be doing this movie. Then I have to think of a way to get Reece to listen to me. Once she's like this? oh boy."
"Well, okay. But if you need me, you know where I am. I can be over in a second."
"Thanks Vi, you are both the best."
***********************
Cori and Violet sat there for a few moments, holding hands. Both of them felt a little helpless not being able to be there to console Faith. Suddenly, Cori jumped up.
"Fucking Reece, I'm going to work and giving her a piece of my mind."
Violet held her lover's hand tighter, understanding her anger but not agreeing with running there half cocked. "Honey, she's already pissed, you have to let her simmer down some or you'll wind up making it worse."
"I'm not afraid of her." Cori declared.
Violet grinned. "I know baby, but just give her a little while before you start getting in her face. She has to think about this."
Cori stomped her foot. "That's just it! She's not thinking, she won't! She's going to block this out and ignore it and it may destroy them. I won't let that happen."
Violet sighed. "I can't stop you can I." she stated. "Okay, you Just call me if there's any problems."
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Faith had enough time to relax through her frustrations and started to become angry. She had the phone in her hand several times, ready to tear this film maker a new asshole, but knew she had to calm down again before she really created a scandal. It was late, and she knew this guy wouldn't be at the office at this hour and that pissed her off even more. Knowing she had no choice but to wait until morning, she sat and stewed.
She was disappointed in Reece. She thought her wife would have given her enough credit to know she wouldn't do anything to hurt her intentionally. She was angry too, knowing it was going to be hell to try and talk to her about this again without another tantrum.
Smudge, who ran away and hid during all the yelling, came over to his mommy and looked at her curiously. Faith picked him up and kissed him on the nose. "I'm sorry for all that sweetie. Auntie Reece can be a big baby sometimes." Smudge settled down in Faith's lap and after a while of stroking him, the actress became much calmer. Just as her eyes were getting heavy, the phone rang. She debated picking it up but curiosity got the best of her.
"Oh, Louise! Who's the hot lesbo actress about to make another movie?"
Faith chuckled. "Hi John. You're a sicko ya know?"
"I take that as a compliment. Sooo, what's happening? Rumor has it this script is hot!"
Faith groaned. "Hot isn't the word. It's practically porno."
"Huh? Are you serious?"
"Dead serious. John, I'm not going to do it if they don't change it." Faith stuck out her chin as she spoke.
"Oh wow. What did Spike have to say about it?"
"You don't even want to know." Faith sighed.
"Mmmm. I bet it didn't go over too big." John said sympathetically. "Hey, it's been floating around that Alicia Alvarez got cast as well. She is a fine specimen isn't she?"
"Oh my god! No! Not Alicia!" Faith began to panic.
"What? And here I thought you were a lesbian. Shit, I'd even do her! What do you mean no?" John teased.
"I have a huge crush on her and Reece knows it! This is awful!"
John grimaced and covered his tracks. "We don't know what part she's been cast in, so it may not be a disaster. Besides, she's as straight as a pin, she'd never go for lesbian porn."
"You never know. It's quite chic to be queer, everyone's jumping on the bandwagon, why should she be any different?"
"Because, she's got at least a million boyfriends and is never photographed without one. All which are gorgeous by the way."
"Alicia Alvarez. Fuck. Reece hates her on principle. Says she's a pig."
"Louise, you only know Spike is mad because you think Alicia's the bee's ankles."
"That doesn't make it any better. Oh man." Faith closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm going to see the producer tomorrow morning, so I'll find out who's playing my love interest. That's if they decide to clean up the script. Otherwise, I'm outta this mess."