Author: Regency
Title: The Whole Thing In Reverse
Summary: What if 20 years ago, Eve was the spoiled rich kid and Julian was the
struggling musician? And what if 20 years ago, they fell in love? Now, two decades later they meet again. When Eve falls back
in love with Julian, how far will she go to have him back?
Author’s Notes: By the way, Dinah is played by Annette O’Toole and
Gideon is played by Charles Divens. Evellyn is played by Mya or Rachel Bilson. Whichever fits her better.
--Oh, and you’re really about to start hating Eve. But don’t worry,
she’s about to have a change of heart and she’ll need Julian’s help to get through. Not this chapter though.
Disclaimer: The show “Passions” belongs to JER, but the idea is mine.
~~~~~
Julian was between fuming and fury as he paced around the waiting room of Harmony
General Hospital’s ICU. There was no doubt in his mind that Eve was the one behind this. There was no else nearly as
strong or influential enough to do what Eve had so obviously done.
He’d called her home office and demanded that she meet him here immediately.
He couldn’t fathom the cruelty of someone to even plan something like this.
Dinah and the children had been involved in a head-on collision when they had
swerved to miss a jaywalking teen and the car had slid into the lane of oncoming traffic, colliding instantly with a white
convertible with a driver not much more sober than she. The crash caused a domino affect that ended in a three car pile up.
Thank God, so far, there had been no fatalities, but he had yet to see his children. Dinah had been rushed to surgery more
than an hour ago with God only knows what sorts of injuries.
He heard her signature Manolo Blahnik’s before she came through the ER swinging
doors. She was dressed chicly, as usual, in a black pin-striped Gucci pantsuit with a strapless cream bodice. The harsh ultraviolet
lights only seemed to add to the devilish gleam of her eyes.
“You rang, professor?” He had to restrain himself at her cavalier
tone. Julian looked around before pulling her into a private room nearby. She shook his grasp off and jumped onto one of the
beds gleefully. “What’s the problem, Julian? You look…concerned.”
“I am little…concerned. Maybe you haven’t heard, but my family
was just in an accident.” Eve tried not to look too enthused. She wasn’t very convincing.
“I’m sorry. I hadn’t heard.”
“Like hell, you hadn’t heard. I have every reason to believe that
you had something to do with this.”
“What could I possibly gain from your family being hurt?” Julian stepped
closer to Eve, placing his hand on each side of her, effectively trapping her.
“What could you possibly gain?” She couldn’t keep eye contact
with him and looked off over his shoulder. He lifted her chin and turned her eyes back to him. “Nothing, because no
matter what you do, I will never love you.” Eve couldn’t argue with the anger in his eyes. “How could I
ever love someone who would destroy everything that I ever loved just to gain the upper-hand in my life.”
“I’m not doing that, Julian. I haven’t done anything. I certainly
didn’t caused this accident. I was nowhere near your family today. I don’t even know their names.”
“For someone who doesn’t know their names, you had no problem firing
their mother from a job she loved and sending her a very suspicious bottle of wine.”
“I thought it would cheer her up.”
“You know damn well that my wife…” Julian stopped himself short
of making an admission he didn’t trust her with. He back away from her and turned to leave. The distance between them
made Eve bold.
“What, Julian? What about your wife? You mean that I know that your wife,
the beloved geography teacher at Harmony High, has an affinity for the bottle?” She could see his back tense from across
the room. “Yeah, that’s right. I know. But I’m not the only one. It’s probably Harmony’s worst
kept secret.” He whirled to face her.
“No, Eve. Harmony’s worst kept secret is the color of your bedroom
ceiling. It’s a terribly uninteresting shade of mauve.”
“It’s not. It’s rose and gold. And don’t think that that
matters, Julian. Say about me what you will. That doesn’t change what Dinah is. She’s an alcoholic and the sooner
you see that, the sooner you will realize that I am much better for you.” She finished with a matter-of-fact nod.
“You know, to be with you I would have to give up everything. My home, my
career, my family and my reputation. That night after you came to my office, I actually considered giving it all up for you.
I asked myself it the feelings were still there and…” He sighed sadly and seemed to deflate before her very eyes.
She dared to step closer to him.
“And what, Julian?” He twisted his wedding band on his finger.
“And they were. Still as strong as ever.” Eve tried not to let hope
show on her face, but a triumphant smile had already taken over. Her joy was cooled by his next words though. “Until
I got a call from Sam. And then, Dinah’s boss. And of course, the wine bottle with the note that I did not send.
It all fell into place when I got here and was told that she was in critical condition. You see, it’s very clear to
me now, Eve. Dinah was your rival and you wanted her out of the way.”
“You think we’re rivals? That’s cute, Julian, but I’m
not so sure that your wife will be amused.”
“If she survives.” Eve’s humor faded at the very real implication
that someone could die as a result of something she’d done.
“Is she really that badly hurt?”
“Yes, she is. She is that badly hurt. She’s been in surgery for…”
He paused to check his watch. “Nearly two hours now.” Eve pressed her hand to her neck to try and push back to
bile rising in her throat.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen, Julian. I swear it wasn’t.
But this isn’t my fault. I didn’t force her to drink.”
“No, but you gave her a reason, Eve. You knocked her off the wagon!”
The force of his words pushed back a few steps.
“I did not make her get behind the wheel of a car, knowing that she was
drunk. She chose to do that.”
“My children were in that car, Eve. My children. That accident could have
wiped out my entire family.” She sat down in a visitor’s chair heavily. She hadn’t thought about that. She
truly hadn’t planned this.
“I didn’t think that this would happen, okay?”
“Okay? No, it’s not okay. What did you expect? You take the one thing
she loves away from her and then, drop off a bottle of the good stuff right at her doorstep. Of course, she was going to drink
it. I swear to you, Eve, if anyone in my family dies, it will be on your head.”
“I know, Julian. I know. I just--I was desperate. Desperate and stupid.
I wanted so badly for us to be a family again. I wanted to make up for all of the years we spent apart. I wanted to get to
know our child. I wanted…things that I can never have.”
“You’re right, Eve,” he began, not having the restraint to look
at her. “You can never have those things, because, you see, I spent years raising our child and years mourning them.
You will never know them.” The chill in the room nearly stopped her heart cold.
“What are you saying, Julian? Are you saying that our child…is dead?”
He closed his eyes and clenched his fists in pain.
“You will never know her. Ever. And I’m glad, because I did not raise
her to know the woman you’ve become. I raised her to believe that you died long ago and I think I was right. The woman
that gave birth to her is gone. Just like her.” Eve covered her mouth with her fist and grasped her black clutch bag
in her hand.
“Our daughter is dead? Oh, God, our baby.” In all of the years that
passed, Eve had never considered that their child could’ve died before she ever got to meet them. “I never thought--”
“No, Eve, you didn’t. You never thought that your actions would affect
anyone else and now they truly have. Welcome to reality, Mrs. Johnson.”
“Ms.”
“Yes, Ms.” Julian shook himself from his daze to end this encounter.
“Look, I’m going to be with my family now.” He turned to look at her one final time. “I never want
to see you again, Eve. I can tell already that loving you is poisonous, but being loved by you is deadly. I won’t lose
this life that I’ve worked for. Not because of you.”
“You’re right. You’re right, I’m poison.” She nodded
to the floor to hide her grief. She’d had it all in her grasp and she’d proceeded to throw it all away. Just like
that. She certainly was a Johnson.
She could feel Julian still watching her, waiting for some sign of anything. Of
surrender.
“You should go be with them. I promise I won’t interfere again. Never
again. I’ll leave you alone. You’ll never see me again. Ever.” She chewed her bottom lip until she could
taste blood and hoped that he would leave soon, but he didn’t. He just watched her because he couldn’t believe
that he’d just lied to her about the most important thing in their lives and she’d believed it. He wanted so badly
to tell her the truth, but he couldn’t risk her staying. To her, their daughter was dead. That was the way it had to
be.
Finally, Julian gave her the mercy she hadn’t shown his wife and left the
room quietly, allowing her to grieve.
~~~~~
Outside the room, he ran into his family’s attending physician, Dr. Harris.
The doctor had that calm demeanor that doctors have that irritated the hell out of him.
“Dr. Harris, how is my family?”
“Your children are fine. Your two daughters and your youngest son were in
the back and are for the most part unhurt. Your daughter, Mea, suffered the worst of them with an sprained wrist, but it’s
only a minor sprain and should heal in little time. Your wife and oldest son suffered the most serious injuries. Your son
suffered a broken arm and clavicle. As well as a concussion and some more minor contusions.” The doctor paused for a
moment to further gather his thoughts.
“And my wife? Doctor?”
“She suffered internal bleeding, which we were able to repair in surgery.
She has broken both legs and sprained her left wrist. She received some ugly head trauma from the head-on collision, but we’ve
done some test to determine that it’s more of an eyesore than actual damage. I do, however, think that you should be
aware that your wife’s blood alcohol level was well above the legal limit. I’m not saying anything, Mr. Crane,
but the concentration of it in her blood hints at long term alcohol abuse. If she continues at this rate, she will be at serious
risk for liver failure and other serious health problems.”
“I know this, Doctor. Tell her that. She’s the one who needs to hear
it.” As much as Julian loved his wife, he was sick of trying to convince her that her drinking was out of hand. She’d
always managed to hide it from the children, but she could never hide it from him. This time was just too much.
Their children could have died and Eve would’ve been right. She couldn’t
be forced to drink and hadn’t been. And if she was so determined to drink then, God knows that she shouldn’t have
dared to get behind the wheel of car. Especially a car with their children in it. Of all the irresponsible things for a mother
to do, this took the cake, bought the bakery, and burned the bread.
He could barely decide who he was more angry at. Eve for starting this or Dinah
for playing right into her hands. And yet, after thirteen years with the woman, he was less surprised than disappointed. She
had promised that she’d stop.
But, all along he’d known that she wouldn’t.
~~~~~
At last, Eve gathered herself and left the hospital building to her car. She sat
there still for nearly a quarter of an hour before she came to her decision and pulled out of the parking lot towards home.
She was gonna be a better person starting now. She was going to be someone the
Julian would be proud to love and she would be the mother that her daughter should have had.
She was going to be great this time around.
She promised.
Next Part
Last Part
