Adultery Consequences by xleglover-COMPLETED

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"His name's Frankie," Jen said. Delving into their story, she said "Joe, listen. Mike and I are going through a rough patch. We're separated."

"Oh," Joe said, not sure how to respond.

"I think we'll get back together. We just need to work some things out. But we agreed we could see other people."

"I'm not judging you Jen," Joe assured her.

"I know you're not," Jen said. "It's important to me you know." After a moment she added "Don't tell mom and dad, okay? Once Mike and I get back together, it'll be a lot easier if they don't know we were separated."

"Yeah, I get that, I won't say anything," Joe promised. He got up to go.

"Wait Joe, don't go," Jen said. "Why are you here?"

"You didn't get my message?" he asked. "I'm here for treatment, I was hoping to crash with you and Mike."

"Is everything okay?" Jen said concerned.

"Yeah, sure," Joe stammered. "Just some treatments. I told you how my doctor is into holistic therapy."

"You can stay here," Jen offered. "Mike's in London. I'm not sure when he'll be back. I'm staying with Frankie. It'll be empty, but if you don't mind ..."

"I don't mind that, it's nice to stay in familiar surroundings," Joe said. "It's really okay if I stay here? My therapist will be over too sometimes. Her name's Willow. Is that okay?"

"Of course Joe, anything you need," Jen assured him.

"So Jen ... who is this guy?" Joe asked looking towards the bedroom. "You're living with him?"

"He's a friend," Jen said. "He's helping me work things out. Don't worry, I think Mike and I will get back together."

"But if you're living with another man, how is that helping you get back together with Mike?" Joe asked not understanding.

Jen was silent, not knowing how to answer.

The meetings went well with the Memphis data center people in San Jose. After getting things set up and making sure everything was working, Mike left Steve and Elaine and the rest of the team to finalize the details of connecting up to the Memphis data feeds.

He felt bad about his last talk with Jen. His cuckold fantasy was like an addiction. He couldn't control it sometimes. Still, it wasn't anyone's fault they ran into Alicia and Ella. That was just bad luck. If they had to live this lie, they might as well take advantage of it. It was only for another couple weeks.

He was about to call Jen to apologize when his cell rang. His heart skipped a beat thinking it was Jen. But it wasn't Jen. It was Jasmine Kelly!

After hellos, Jasmine said "Mike do you know they're about to launch the new Sapphire?"

"I didn't know that," Mike said. It was a lie. He knew from his hacking in Sapphire the exact date and time they planned to launch.

"Do you still have concerns about privacy?" Jasmine asked.

"If you're asking as a reporter, I have no comment," Mike said.

"Mike, come on, you should tell your side of the story," Jasmine said. "People are asking why you quit."

"I don't want to be interviewed Jasmine," Mike said.

"I won't quote you, you'll just be background," Jasmine promised. "Let's go to dinner, we'll talk."

"I'm not in New York," Mike said. "I'm helping Jen with one of her work projects."

"How is your pretty wife?" Jasmine said. She teased "Been to South Beach lately?" When Mike didn't answer she added "I don't get you two. I can't believe you put up with what she does."

"Take care Jasmine, I've got to go," Mike said. He hung up. He didn't want to get into it with Jasmine. If you weren't into this lifestyle you'd never get it.

Jen and Drums returned to the Bronx apartment. They obviously couldn't stay in the SoHo loft apartment with Joe there. Jen went into the bedroom and called Mike. She told him what happened.

"Joe won't tell mom and dad," Mike assured her.

"What should we do?" Jen asked.

"You might as well stay with Drums," Mike said. "It's only 2 more weeks. You still need time, to help with closure?"

"I guess," Jen said. She didn't know any more.

"What's wrong?" Mike asked hearing the hesitation in Jen's voice.

"I don't know," Jen said. "This separation thing is getting more and more real." After a moment she laughed without any humor and said "That probably turns you on right?"

It DID turn him on. But it made him anxious too. "I miss you," he said. "You can't imagine how much. Sometimes I wonder if you'll really come back to me after it's over."

Jen wasn't in the mood to reassure him. HE was the one pushing the separation fantasy. She meanly said "Well I guess you'll just have to wait and find out."

A long silence passed between them. Mike said "Jen ..." but then his voice cut off. He didn't know what to say.

Sensing his hurt and anxiety, Jen relented and tersely said "Of course I'm coming back to you. But you can't expect I'm always going to be happy with your fantasies."

"I get it" Mike said hesitantly.

Jen sighed. "I've got to go Mike, Frankie is waiting for me. I'll talk to you later." She moved to hang up.

"Jen wait," Mike said hurriedly. "I love you."

After a moment's hesitation, Jen said "... I love you too."

After they hung up, Jen sat on the bed looking out the window. She felt disconnected from Mike. When was the last time they spent quality time together? When was the last time they made love? She couldn't remember. She realized she didn't miss him as much as she should. But then she had Frankie.

Mike also sat looking out the window. He felt out of control. He so missed Jen. Yet, she was with another man. He knew she would come back to him. But he feared she wouldn't.

Sapphire was also on his mind. They were about to launch. What if he was right, and the government used Sapphire to illegally spy on American citizens? What if his software bug went live? What if he got caught?

~~ Week 8 ~~

"Have you heard about the big party at Colin's place?" Drums asked.

"I'm on those email lists but I don't usually read them," Jen said. "What's up?"

"He's having a big party at his Penn State place," Drums said. "He's booked the Ramones to play like last time. It'll probably be our last gig as the Ramones. Artie is talking about relaunching as something new. You wanna go?" After a moment he added "It's in a couple weeks."

"Our last weekend," Jen said softly.

"Yeah," he said with a melancholy grin. "One last blowout party. Kinda fits, you know?"

Jen called Mike later that evening and told him about Colin's party. "I'm not sure I want to see Colin," Jen said. He'd been texting her constantly since their afternoon of sex during Homecoming weekend. But she had a hard time thinking about Colin much less talking to him or going to his party, since her looking at a picture of him on her phone had resulted in Mike getting hurt, and her miscarriage. (Colin didn't know about Jen's miscarriage of course, since he didn't know she'd been pregnant.)

Mike shrugged. "Maybe it's a good way to end our separation. We can tell everyone we got back together at a party at Penn State."

"Yeah, that does work," Jen said a smile coming to her face. She liked the idea of getting back together at Penn State.

"After the party we'll ride off into sunset," Mike said.

"Holding hands right?" Jen said smiling into the phone.

"Always baby," Mike promised, smiling back.

"When are you coming home? I'm missing you," Jen said.

"We're still separated for two more weeks," Mike teased.

"I'm sure it's acceptable to give my ex-husband a hug," Jen said teasing back.

"I'm not sure when I'm coming home," Mike said. "I've got a pretty demanding boss."

"Oh you do, do you?" Jen laughed, knowing he was talking about her. "Maybe your boss will have to visit you in London."

"Honesty? I'd rather you stay in New York with Drums," Mike said. "It's only 2 more weeks."

"And you want to experience it, right?" Jen said rolling her eyes. "Just promise me Mike. It's over after Colin's party. Right?"

"... yeah," Mike said after a moment. "It'll be over."

Jen heard the hesitation in Mike's voice but didn't say anything. She knew he was conflicted about stopping. He loved the game. She did too. But they had to grow up sometime.

After hanging up with Jen, Mike went to a Pete's Coffee. He used a disposable phone to hack into Sapphire. Computers at the CATF recorded his movements. When Colonel Banks studied the report later, he'd see Mike looked around but didn't do anything, just like all the other times.

"Hey stranger," a girl's voice said behind Mike.

Mike turned around. It was Tara!

They hugged hello. "What are you doing here?" Mike asked.

"I got a job with Apple," Tara said.

"Oh," Mike said. "I thought you were still working with Darren on Sapphire."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I mostly wanted to work with you," Tara said. "You left ... god the new CTO is so overbearing ... I had to leave. This is actually my first week at Apple."

"I'm sorry it didn't work out," Mike said sincerely.

"That's okay, I loved New York but I always wanted to work in Silicon Valley, and I really like Apple!" Tara said brightly. Then she looked worriedly at a paper in her hand. "I hope I can cut it. This is my first project and I can't figure it out."

"What is it?" Mike asked taking the sheet of paper from Tara. It was a series of transformations. "Oh, it's the state table for the iTunes sync algorithm," Mike said matter-of-factly. He briefly studied it. "You've got a discontinuity here, you know."

Tara's eyes grew wide. "Where?" she said amazed. "How did you just figure that out?"

Mike didn't hear her, suddenly engrossed in the problem on the paper. He took out a pencil and made a few changes to the equations. "This should do it," he said handing the paper back to her.