JACQUELINE "JAC" ISABELLA FABRAY
âš‘Â GENDER:Â Ciswoman
âš‘ PRONOUNS:Â She/Her
âš‘Â AGE:Â 47 (February 5, 1978)
âš‘Â TYPE:Â Half sibling
âš‘Â HOMETOWN:Â New York City, New York
âš‘Â SEXUALITY:Â Lesbian
âš‘Â JOB: Sous chef for Luce
âš‘Â ACCOMMODATION:Â Diamond
âš‘Â FACECLAIM:Â Lena Headey
child abuse and homophobia tw
Jac despised her father. A product of his first relationship in college, she’d always felt like an inconvenience, like she was somehow ruining his life just by existing. She never knew her mom, according to Russell she was a drug addict and would’ve made a terrible parent, but it was okay because he’d decided, out of the goodness of his heart, to not give her up, but to raise himself instead. And by that, he meant pawning her off to his own parent’s or other relatives to look after her while he lived his life as if she didn’t exist.
When Russell met Judy as he made his first million, Jac was seven. She never really had an issue with her stepmother, although she never really believed that Judy was with Russell for any reason but his money, but that wasn’t really her problem. He seemed happy enough with his new wife, and at least it meant that Jac wasn’t alone in their ridiculously large house. Judy never attempted to be her mother, but she didn’t treat Jac the same way that Russell did, with a lot of apathy and disdain for her interests in art and punk rock. She wouldn’t encourage it either, and once she was pregnant with hers and Russell’s first child, Jac went back to being unnoticed and in the background, leaving her wondering what it was she did wrong.
Of course, Jac eventually realised that she hadn’t done anything wrong, she just didn’t fit their perfect family image. She stuck out like a sore thumb, and when Russell started excluding her from the family photo ops at church and volunteering trips, Jac didn’t actually mind. She could just do her own thing, like dye streaks of blue in her hair, stay out long past curfew with her friends, and smoke cigarettes out of her bedroom window while listening to her favourite heavy metal songs on full volume.
Jac would continue to push boundaries, to test where the line was of things she couldn’t do, and when she found there wasn’t one as long as she didn’t embarrass Russell in public, she gave up trying. Nothing she did would capture his attention, good or bad, so Jac may as well carry on like the roommate they treated her like rather than a member of the family. Russell had something of a temper, and while he didn’t really care what she did, he’d still blow up at her frequently for her ‘disrespect’ towards him, or her ‘ungodly’ choices.
It wasn’t that bad though, not until the night he caught her and her girlfriend at the time in the middle of having sex. Jac didn’t think he’d really care about it, it wasn’t like he’d ever shown an interest in her dating life, but she was very wrong. Once her girlfriend had left, Russell slapped Jac so hard across the face he split her lip, knocking her to the floor before beginning a tirade of fury and abuse about how wrong and immoral she was for not only having pre-marital sex under his roof, but for doing it with another girl. Jac had had enough at this point, sixteen years of being ignored and treated as an annoyance, as less important than his ‘real’ family, and now he had an opinion about who she was becoming? No, no way. She unleashed sixteen years of hurt and rage in his direction, filled with more than a few cuss words that had made Judy faint from the shock of hearing them all strung together, and then headed back to her room, throwing her clothes, toiletries and electronics into a duffel bag, and left Russell’s house for good.
She never spoke to him again, never returned to the Fabray house or attempted any kind of contact with any of them. Why would she? It wasn’t like any of them stood up for anyway. Although, years later, when she heard about the divorce and Russell’s numerous infidelities, Jac had laughed herself sick at the hypocrisy of it all. She spent a couple of years couch surfing, dropping out of high school and earning money by lying about her age and working behind a bar in Hell’s Kitchen. It wasn’t like they vetted her that closely anyway, Jac figured they probably knew she was only sixteen, but it wasn’t exactly a reputable establishment. Eventually, Jac decided it was time to figure out what she wanted to do with her life, despite her lack of formal education, and after quitting her terrible bartending job, she got a position as a dishwasher in a restaurant.
It was there that Jac fell in love with cooking, fascinated by the inner workings of the kitchen she was scrubbing pans in. The head chef seemed to notice the way that Jac would watch his techniques, the natural curiosity she seemed to have, and decided to take her under his wing. With his help, Jac learnt to cook like she never had before, learnt how to order produce, how to pick the best cuts of meat and freshest fish at the market. It meant many very early morning starts and late-night finishes, but for the first time in her life, Jac felt like someone actually cared about her and took interest in seeing her succeed.
Succeed she did, quickly working her way up the kitchen ranks over the next decade until she made it to sous chef. Jac loved her job, and for many years she was content to just work beside her mentor in the kitchen, the two in perfect sync and Jac seeing him as the pseudo father figure she never had. She was even invited to spend the holidays with him, his wife and their two kids, and not once did she ever felt out of place or like she was intruding just for being there, welcomed in with open arms.
However, after a massive heart attack, Jac lost him, and she’d never known a grief like that. Even after as his death, his family still kept Jac close, making sure she knew that she’d always have a place with them if that’s what she wanted. The restaurant was left to his kids, as Jac had expected, but what she hadn’t expected was the large sum of money that he left her to open up her own place, with a note telling her to stop doubting her own abilities and get on with it already. His family eventually moved back to Italy, but Jac remained in touch with them even so.
She had been a week from opening the doors to her restaurant when the world descended into chaos. Jac knew she couldn’t stay, but there was a fury inside her that she hadn’t felt since she was sixteen at having her dream snatched from her hands at the last minute. Having a fair amount of savings still, she bought her way into Diamond on Sylvester Of The Seas, taking the available sous chef position at Luce. She resented having to work for someone else again after being so close to being the head chef of her own place, but this wasn’t exactly an ideal situation, and at least she got to keep a job she loved, no small thing in this topsy turvey world. Who knows, maybe she’d find the chance to open a restaurant of her own here, at the very least eventually be head chef.
The worst thing about it all was that she was facing an eternity at sea with her deadbeat father, but there was something incredibly satisfying about seeing the great Russell Fabray scrubbing congealed food from plates in the kitchens attached to main dining room, while she got to hold the second-on-command spot at upscale Italian bistro, helping create the menu and actually work for what she had trained for. She hoped he’d never find a different position, forever stuck cleaning up after everyone else.
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