Vixey

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” he said back with a soft smile as he watched their very big golden jump at the bed and settle behind Vixey, Todd just watching their pup with a smile before his blue eyes focused on Vixey again. “You slept alright? Because you look a little tired,” he said with a chuckle as his fingers gently tucked a ginger lock behind her ear. “So I didn’t make you breakfast this year, but I did stop by and got you your favorite coffee order,” said Todd as he moved to the side just to get the Starbucks bag he brought with him. He had made a quick stop before coming home just to have her favorites, which made up for a good breakfast. “And I couldn’t really find somewhere we could go out and eat because the whole place is packed, but I do have one surprise for tonight,” he said with a smirk as he handed her the cup of coffee to go, as well as getting out a tray of Vixey’s favorite cupcakes from the bag, red velvet that formed a heart. And of course, some pink roses as well.

“I’m still making today as special as you’d think,” he said with a chuckle as he handed her the roses before he leaned in to press a kiss to her lips. “You’re my girl. I couldn’t disappoint now,” said Todd with a chuckle as he leaned back. “Oh, and we got you this too,” said Todd as he pulled out his bag from the firehouse. Having taken his gift for Vixey to work just so she wouldn’t be able to find it while he was gone, taking a wrapped frame with a picture of him in a suit with Roxie in his arms, even if she was quite a big dog now, with a sign hooked around her collar that read, ‘We love you to the moon and back’. “So that way, you can take us with you to any show you go to,” said Todd as he handed her the present.

Vixey had to sit up and readjust herself for a moment. To say she was a bit overwhelmed by the string of events that had been playing out before her would be an understatement. Of course she knew Roxie would be involved, and something about that helped keep her calm. The Starbucks order made her smile, Vixey sitting up fully in bed now and taking the coffee from Todd, and then there were the cupcakes. Of course they were her favorite; Vixey would never be tired of red velvet cupcakes. “Todd, these are perfect, really they are. And of course my favorite as you know..” This wouldn’t be the first time she had gotten the cupcakes. 

She eyed him carefully now, Of course there was a part of her that had been paranoid about the way things would go, but Todd was making it very clear that things would be special this year nonetheless, which Vixey appreciated to no end. After taking a sip of the coffee and placing it on her night stand, with her hands now free Vixey reached for the bag he offered and when she opened it to reveal the framed picture of him in his suit with Roxie the tears began to flow. It wasn’t anything too much but there were definitely tears. Seeing Todd all done up with their fur baby, especially after everything that had gone on, it was an emotional time for Vixey. “Todd..” she said through happy tears, sniffling a little and admiring the picture. “I love it, so much. This is so thoughtful, really. And thank you for the coffee..” She sat the picture down out of the way before reaching over for Todd, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him down on the bed with her, or as close as she could.

@broadwayvixen

Valentine’s morning arrived with Todd coming back from a shift at the firehouse. Of course, he would have loved to wake up to Vixey’s sleepy face, like it had happened last year. But at least he had his two days off to spend with his girlfriend. Not to mention, he had been lucky to spend the whole day with her. With his luck, he would have easily been stuck in the firehouse for Valentine’s day. But that wasn’t the case. And for this day, he had planned something very special for the redhead. And with how well things had been going after that dark patch that had been the theme for the past weeks, this certainly was something to look forward to.

If things had turned the wrong way, it would have been depressing. But it wasn’t. And here he was, silently opening the door to their apartment, with Roxie already waiting for him with her tail wiggling. Todd knew that Vixey was bound to be sound asleep, even if Roxie had jumped from the bed to greet him. Which made it even better. “Come on now, just like we practiced,” he said as he placed the roses that he had carefully cut the thorns off so the pup wouldn’t hurt her mouth. “Go on,” he said softly, watching the golden retriever carry the roses in between her teeth, pushing the door of their bedroom with her nose and making it to Vixey’s side of the bed, her wet nose poking her face being more than enough to wake her up. And right behind her was Todd.

“Morning,” he said with a chuckle as he took a seat on the bed, his gaze warm as he looked at Vixey. “Baby girl here has something for you.”

For a good month Vixey was so nervous, worried sick about Valentine’s Day.. Given how things had been going since New Year’s she hated to think how this next holiday would go. But, they finally spoke, though Vixey was sure she did more crying than speaking but oh well.. They had finally broken the silence that was deafening between the two of them and decided to put it past them and though Vixey was still a little nervous, she was thankful she could look forward to the holiday now. She had it off too, seeing as she still hadn’t secured a part in a show, though she had been talking to people and setting up auditions. Things were in the works, but she was still very much unemployed - and savings were dwindling. But she wasn’t going to worry about it.

She went to bed the night before knowing Todd would be back from his shift with some time off together and she was truly looking forward to it, she was anxious to see what he had planned. When she felt Roxie’s cold wet nose against her face, Vixey’s eyes opened slowly, light pouring in from the curtains and Todd standing behind their golden, who had a rose between her teeth. “Roxie..” she said sleepily with a smile. “Hey baby girl, thank you..” she reached out for the rose, “It’s beautiful,” her eyes shifted from the pup to Todd. “Happy Valentine’s Day, love..” Vixey said to him as she finally sat up in bed, patting the spot next to her for Roxie to jump up. 

Todd listened as Vixey spoke her heart out, knowing she was sincere. This was far too deep for her to talk about it so lightly. Something she struggled to constantly face. Reality. So the fact that she was out talking about being more honest with him, it was more than clear that she was opening up to him. “Okay,” he said with a nod as she finished talking. He believed every word she said, and could only hope from now on that the ginger would stay true to her words. Of course, Todd knew that wouldn’t change in one day. It would take time, she’d need time, but at least, he knew she was open to it. And he’d be there to help her. Todd then took Vixey’s good hand, moving it to his chest, pressing it his heart with his palm over his sweater as he looked at her. “Do you still love me?” It probably sounded like a dumb question, but with how things had developed for the past weeks, of course, it was something to wonder now. “Are you going to hurt me again?” Todd’s blue eyes looked at her with a soft gaze, his thumb caressing the knuckles of her hand. He felt so deeply, so much. His blue eyes looked at her, at Vixey with no malice, or intention of making her feel guilty about what happened. His blue eyes just looked at her warmly, no sign of resentment or hurt in them as he just took in his girlfriend’s eyes. There was nothing that he wanted more than to move on and leave that dark patch that had happened past them.

Vixey’s eyes followed Todd’s hand as he took hers and placed it over his heart, her fingertips resting against the fabric of his sweater. “I still love you, Todd..” she said slowly. Of course she still loved him, and she was terrified she wasn’t going to have the chance to love him for much longer, that things between them were going to end. Vixey had been so scared for so long now, just thinking back to it made her feel a little ill. “And no,” she shook her head slowly now. “No, I’m not going to hurt you, I didn’t want to in the first place...” she could go on again but there was no point now, not if they wanted to move forward. “I love you so much, Todd Summers. And I’m so sorry.”

He would have understood if she had talked to him when it happened. Todd wasn’t someone to be so stubborn to his own point of view. He knew Gunther, knew how much he had hurt Vixey in the past. Of course, he was angry that he had taken advantage of her, or that he was back to bother her. But Todd would have understood instantly had she explained it right away and not waited, or swept it under the rug with hopes that it would magically disappear. “It wouldn’t be it for me,” he said back to Vixey. “It wouldn’t because I would have understood if you had told me. It’s not that, the whole you and him in that place, and what happened. That wasn’t what hurt me,” he said as he looked at the ginger. His gaze was soft, his blue eyes never leaving hers, but it was still firm and he wasn’t breaking it. “It hurt me that you hid it from me. This hasn’t been the first that it has happened. If something like that would have happened to me, you would have wanted me to tell you right away. Not hide it from you, wouldn’t you?” Todd then squeezed her good hand a little, “I would never hide anything from you, even if it was bad because I don’t want to hurt you. All I’m asking is for you to be the same with me. That’s all.”

Vixey nodded. Her shoulders relaxed just a little as Todd spoke again, her hands till in his and though it was one of the scariest things she had done over the last month, she held her gaze with him, only blinking and momentarily looking up to allow for more tears to fall. Of course she knew she should have said something and it wasn’t her intention to hurt her boyfriend by not telling him. She didn’t want that. Vixey could be pretty hardheaded and self-centered but she wasn’t awful. “I just thought maybe it’d disappear and I wouldn’t have to worry about it and I could pretend it had never happened.” she said in agreement. “And of course I’d want you to tell me, I know but that is so much easier to say than do.. It’s scary, the confrontation that comes with this. And I didn’t mean for it to hurt you like this, I never meant for you to find out from someone else, I meant it when I said you didn’t deserve that. You deserved to hear it from me when it happened. I’m incredibly sorry for not telling you and I can say that yes,” she sighed, still feeling hot and worked up over this but a little less tense than she had before. “I am going to tell you, I need to be honest with you, I will.” She feared she wasn’t coming off as genuine as she was trying to be about that last bit - being honest. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell him, of course she wanted to. Vixey was just scared to death of what her future self might do in response to something and it was scary, taking that step to promise something so big. “I promise to be more honest with you, even if it scares the shit out of me.”

“I know, it’s probably not easy to talk about,” said Todd as he looked at Vixey. They were complete opposites in that matter. Todd was always up and confronting the problem or the emergency since he was a kid, and now quite literally for work. His grandma had taught him that. Even if he had been beaten up when he was a kid by bullies, Todd always took the first step to talk it out. Which didn’t work for him back then, clearly. “But Vixey, I need to know what’s going on. Because, with all the little communication I’ve gotten from you these past weeks, I’ve just been wondering if you’d leave me or not. Wondering if I’d come home to boxes with your things,” said Todd with a sigh as he looked at their hands for a second. “I don’t know what to think. So tell me, please.”

“Nothing is going on, that’s the thing.” The words just sort of fell out, Vixey didn’t even have to think about it. And that really was it. Vixey had been so frustrated from the start that all of this was because of that kiss but then snowballed into an even bigger problem when it really didn’t need to. “Todd, I was out and he was there, and honestly he was pissing me off the way he kept egging me on - nothing has changed about him, he’s still the most infuriating person.” just the thought of Gunther had Vixey’s chest turning red and it was visible through the low cut of her tank top she was wearing. She felt hot, too. “And then he kissed me and  it took me a second to process what just happened but I pulled away, I left, I didn’t hang around. I was so mad. But...” she was searching for words again. Vixey was honestly trying to stay calm about this, as calm as she could to talk about it but reliving it in her head just wasn’t helping at all and now she was upset all over again, wiping a few tears away. “I was going to tell you about it. I should have told you the next day, it should have been the first thing I said. But I was scared. And because of that fear I waited too long and someone else beat me to it. And you didn’t deserve that and I know you. And I was afraid that that would be it for you.” 

“I know I stashed those decorations around somewhere.” Jervis mused, looking around the club’s storage room. “The problem is, I have no idea where.”

“Well, let’s think,” Vixey looked around, watching Jervis search through various things. “Is there any sort of organization here, or are things just kind of thrown into boxes at random? It looks like you guys could use some labels for the boxes..” 

Todd sat next to Vixey as he looked at her, while his hand still rubbed her back softly as he sat a little straighter to listen to her. And because it was a lot more comfortable since they were still sitting at the edge of the tub in the bathroom. “Well,” he said as he looked at the ginger with soft eyes. “You wouldn’t have known unless you would have faced all this. I know I wouldn’t have been able to keep on going like this for more time. It’s been just weeks, but it’s been suffocating enough,” said Todd, as softly and calmly as he could say those things. Even if he was constantly the one taking the hits from Vixey and keeping calm and civil around her whenever that happened, he had a limit. No one would want to live with the ghost of someone. “But we’re here now,” said Todd as he pulled his hand away from her back just to reach her hands, taking them in his while his blue eyes looked at her, always careful with her burnt one. “So let’s talk.”

For the first time in weeks when Todd reached for her hands she felt nervous, butterflies. It wasn’t quite the feeling she had known before, they were more nervous feeling than anything. She knew she was going to have to face the music eventually, to talk to Todd about how she had been feeling, what had gone on, all of it. But she still didn’t know how to say it, what words to say. She was still at such a loss. She didn’t know where to begin. “I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet.. I just, I really don’t know what to say, Todd. I don’t know where to begin. I don’t know how to talk about this.” It was true. Before if faced with a situation like this be it Vixey doing the stupid thing or her partner, she’d run from it. She’d throw around some words and then leave. This was new territory for her.

Todd held her close, held his girlfriend close to him as she cried, feeling every sob and every cry she let out as he just hugged her tight. Close to his chest, as his hand gently rubbed her back. Of course, he didn’t like to see the ginger like that. He never did. But Todd could only assume that with all the time, all the days and weeks with a barely a word from her, it was just a matter of time before something made her explode like this. At least they were at home for this. He let out a sigh at her words, pulling away from her just so he could look at her face. Todd’s fingers moved just so he could push some of her red locks away from her face, his gaze softening. “No, they haven’t been alright lately,” he said as he tilted his head a little. “But things aren’t ruined, Vixey. I just wished we had been able to talk without having to reach this point.”

Of course hearing those words from his mouth was helpful and she knew he meant every bit of it, Todd was always honest with Vixey, he always had been and that wouldn’t change. But she still felt completely terrible and just as though she had indeed ruined things. She’d probably feel that way for quite some time and honestly it was all on her. She’d have to get herself back to her comfortable self. “I still feel like they are.” she admitted. “You know me, I’ve been avoiding this, I’ve been terrified things were going to change between us, that things were going to-” she couldn’t say the word end aloud, another sob came instead. “I just didn’t know what to say, I didn’t want to say anything else I guess I was just thinking it would all go away - even though that’s completely stupid of me, I’m smarter than that and I’ve known we needed to talk...” Honestly Vixey didn’t feel as though she were making much sense, the words were just pouring out of her at this point. The words and the tears.

Todd had made it a few steps towards the door when he heard more sobbing behind him and Vixey then saying those words. He turned around, slowly as he looked at the ginger. It was clear that she was sorry about everything that had happened, and he could see that, clearly. He just wished it didn’t take her that long, weeks of bottled up emotions and a burn in her hand for her to actually speak up and tell him she was sorry. But he wasn’t about to say anything snappy back at her. Todd, in fact, didn’t say a single word. Instead, he just moved towards her, taking a seat next to her. “Come here,” he said as he pulled Vixey close to him, hugging her tight as he rested her head on his shoulder, his hand rubbing her back as he just held her close to him. “It’s alright,” he said softly, letting her cry in his arms for as long as she needed. They could talk later.

Upon feeling Todd’s arms wrap around her shoulders Vixey collapsed. It was the first time in weeks she had truly collapsed against Todd, in his embrace, it was the first time in weeks she had felt as though she could do this. Not even when she fell near the firehouse and he was there to pick her up. No, then it just felt like he was doing his job, this time, this time it felt like he was truly there for her and her in return there for him. Another few sobs left her mouth, tears falling from her eyes and her grip around Todd tightening the least bit. She wasn’t the most comfortable there on the side of the bathtub with Todd but at least she was there. At present she didn’t care much for how uncomfortable they were physically but how they were just simply there, in the moment. It was a start. “No, it’s not alright. Nothing has been alright for weeks. I ruined everything, Todd..”

For the first time in weeks, Todd’s gaze softened as he looked at Vixey, and heard that sob coming out of her. Of course, the situation didn’t look life-threatening. It was a small burn. It was in a very uncomfortable place in her palm, for sure, but also, things could have been far worse than that. But he didn’t like to see her crying like that. He never did. Even if he was angry with Vixey, even if he was mad with her, even if he didn’t want to talk or see her at times, he just couldn’t take her crying. Todd slowly walked in, grabbing the gauze from the floor and kneeled in front of her, taking her hand in a gentle hold, making sure he wasn’t touching the zone where it hurt. “It’s not the worst burn,” he said softly as he moved to grab some cream and a cotton pad, gently tapping until he had covered it all, and then getting some gauze and tape on it. The bandage wasn’t tight, but it sure would help whenever she grabbed anything with that hand. “I’m going to get you an ice pack so you can hold it for now. That’s going to help you with the pain,” said Todd as he put everything away, standing up and moving towards the door.

“I know it’s not..” And she did, Vixey knew good and well that it wasn’t the worst burn and it wasn’t really the reason for the tears, the sobbing. Of course it was the tipping point. All she did was watch as he picked up the gauze and knealt before her. With ease Todd had patched the burn, seamlessly, as always. He was a firefighter but she always thought he would be an alright doctor or something in the medical field. He was so gentle and perhaps it was just with Vixey but he was good. And for the first time in weeks he wasn’t tense, the look in his eyes was soft, his touch was soft, and even though it was brief it was comforting. She had zoned out again, just staring at her hand as the tears fell from her eyes and it wasn’t until he stood and headed towards the door that she sobbed again, “I’m so sorry, Todd..” the words just fell out as she sat there, perched on the edge of the bathtub. “I’m sorry..” This wasn’t how this was supposed to go, not in her head anyway. Vixey had wanted to mention his attitude recently towards her, it had been driving her crazy, but at the same time, she could justify it all. She had messed up and he was upset. She couldn’t do anything about that. No, now the weight of it all was just crashing down, leaving her helpless.

Todd moved back to the bedroom as he went finished packing the firehouse bag. He never did it with that much time to spare, considering he had another day to rest, but right now, that task was doing wonders to distract himself. Distract himself from the inevitable that at some point Vixey would leave. That she’d come to him, talk or not, and say it to his face. He lifted his head when he heard footsteps coming in closer and then saw Vixey walking into the room. He stood up straighter when he heard the small wince coming from her. No wonder, one quick glance at her hand and Todd knew that the burn would bother for days to come before it was healed. Meaning that grabbing things would be a nightmare for her. He would have helped her with her shirt, but she had just shut him out and told him no when he wanted to help and he wasn’t fond of another rejection like that one. But when she moved to the bathroom to finally take care of the burn, Todd followed. “Just let me take care of your hand, you can barely grab a shirt with it,” he said as he crossed his arms over his chest, standing next to the door.

By the time Vixey had made it to the bathroom, pulled out the gauze and band aids and medicated cream in an attempt to help her burn she was so frustrated. She sat there on the edge of the bathtub, items sprawled around her on the floor, and a couple of tears had started to fall. It wasn’t because she was in pain so much it was because she was so frustrated - with her choice to not accept the help from him, the fact that she had zoned out and missed the first sign of the pan becoming too hot, grabbing the pan bare handed, the whole situation that lead to her ignoring Todd. She was just so frustrated, so done with all of it. When Todd walked into the bathroom and offered help she dropped the roll of gauze in her hand and it fell to the floor. Finally a frustrated sob fell from her lips as she opened her palm to reveal the burn. It wasn’t big, but it was right right between the space where her thumb met her index finger, near the palm of her hand, so it was just in a bad spot. “Okay..” was all she could manage to get out clearly. 

Todd stood there as Vixey was quick to take care of it, as much as she would, she had never ever taken care of a wound with how weak she was around blood and wounds. It was always Todd. That was their dynamic. And honestly, any other day, he would have pushed it and demanded to take care of it, mostly because if not then her wound gets infected, and that would only make her stay worse considering she was in the middle of auditions. That night though, Todd was more than ready to throw the towel, quite literally as he placed the first aid kit on the counter. “Fine. Whatever you say,” he said with a little shrug before he turned on his heels and exited the room. She was stubborn and her pride sometimes was too much for him to handle it, and Todd did not have any strength left to fight it.

She was a little caught off guard by how quickly Todd was to turn away, to just walk away from her and to not offer help. Of course right now in this moment it wasn’t so much of a surprise that he had walked away so fast. With the paper towel wrapped around her hand she moved back to the counter to move the pan to the sink, grabbing the pot holder first. Once the pan was in the sink she moved about the kitchen, attempting to slice more of the avocado but her hand wasn’t having it. It didn’t take too long for her to give up though and quickly decide that she wasn’t hungry any longer. With that she left the kitchen to head back towards the bedroom. Once she had made it she went to change out of her shirt but winced upon grabbing the hem of it. “Ouch..” she cried, not too loud but loud enough for it to be audible. After a few moments she finally managed and then headed towards the bathroom to attempt to wrap it with a band aid and some gauze though she was turning out to be unsuccessful.