Everything came crashing down ( Jackson)

Tessa was waiting for Jackson at LAX. Dominique was in New York with her parents. So at least she could somewhat relax. As she was still pissed about everything. Her world was turned upside down. And she didn’t know what to do anymore. So she decided that she was going to meet Jackson personally. At least she knew that Dominique would be enjoying her time in New York. Tessa was worried about how this was going to affect her. But she knew that her daughter was strong. But Tessa was questioning how strong she actually was.

Thankfully it was a nice beautiful day. And she didn’t have to worry about any nasty weather. As she was waiting for Jackson her mind was wondering. She couldn’t help but think about how Damien left her. Now she had to rebuild who she was. And this was going to be the hardest. As she thought that when she took her marriage vows that it meant till death do us part. Which was something that she was able to do but not Damien?

At least she was going to see Jackson again. She knew that he was busy with winning office. And she didn’t realize that he was in England with Sasha when she sent the email. But then again she had no idea that he would actually drop everything and come to LA. She tried to look happy as she was waiting for him.

The flight had been... uncomfortable to say the least. Jackson had rather outgrown the habit of booking his own tickets, mostly because his staff was always on point booking them for him. Ever sine Victoria had taken on the job, she'd made sure he always got the aisle seat seeing as his lanky limbs would twist in on themselves in a middle chair. Sadly Victoria was not around in current circumstances and the wizard had only realized his mistake after finding his tall frame bundled into a seat meant for the missing dwarf in question amidst a pregnant lady and a man who took overweight to new heights.

Still, Jackson had managed to sleep through most of the flight, only remembering to shoot Sasha a text that he was aboard three hours after taking off. The dark haired male awake to find his head lolled to one side on the shoulder of the expecting lady, his forehead uncomfortably close to her large breast. His accidental victim didn't look too traumatized though and when he swung his head up to apologize, she merely waved it away, a slight pink in her cheek. The next half hour was spend fending off disapproving glares from the healthy gentleman to his right. All in all, Jackson was glad when the plane finally touched down at LAX and was one of the first ones off his seat and out the door.

With no luggage to collect (everything he absolutely needed was in his one bag swung casually over a shoulder), the man cleared immigration via the VIP line and was out in the receiving lounge in less than ten minutes. He'd honestly expected to find one of Fox's many chauffeurs waiting with a cardboard sign held up. So when he saw Tessa Greene herself, his face broke into a warm, relieved smile.

"T!" He called out, walking toward her with his arms held open for a welcoming hug. "I wasn't expecting you to show up. I thought you'd send one fof the staffers. Where's Dominique? Is she at home?" But before the brunette could answer, Jackson had already buried her in a massive bear hug, holding her tiny form against him and trying not to envision how hard the last few weeks must have been for her.

Damien really was a right bastard.

Tessa was waiting for Jackson plane to land. So this was giving her time to think about everything that has been happening to her. Everything that she knew was a lie. She then wondered if Damien actually did love her. Or was it just for the fact the Grey family had power. These were questions that were the difficult answer. So it wasn’t going to help to beat herself up. At least Tessa knew that Dominique was going to be fine. As now she was in New York but she knew that the divorce was hard on her too.

So this was actually something that was helping keep her mind off things. And she was going to get to see Jackson again. Tessa knew that he has been really busy. As she was busy trying to run Fox Network as Damien was off playing house with his mistress. Oh, how she hated that woman as she broke up her marriage. She didn’t think that he would drop everything with Sasha just to come to see her. That wasn’t the point of the email. But she wasn’t going to say that it was all a bad thing.

“ Jackson!” She smiled as he had opened his arms for a hug. “ Yeah, I figured that I would get out of the house for a while. So I decided that I would come myself to pick you up.” Jackson then started to ask about Dominique. Which was something that she had expected? Before she could answer Jackson pulled her into a massive bear hug. But she smiled but then pulled away to answer where Dominique was. “ She is actually in New York with my parents. They promised to take her to a Broadway show. I think it was either Frozen or Anastasia? I think they might end up seeing both of them. This has hit Dominique really hard. This was a way to cheer her up.” This was all hard on her too but she was doing her best to put on a brave face.

"Now that little miss has the right idea," Jackson agreed with a grin. Personally he thought Tessa should have gone with the girl to visit her folks in New York, it would take her mind of the situation but the witch had mentioned something about needing to run Fox offices. Had Damien gone so insane that he had abandoned his family as well as his business for some floozy?

"Come on, let's go have dinner I'm starving, slept through the in flight meal but I doubt I missed much," he spoke, guiding the witch gently through the crowds to the VIP parking area where their car waited. His arm remained casually sling around Tessa's shoulder in a comfortable manner as they walked, Tessa filling him in on all he'd missed.

Truthfully he had a million questions but he didn't want to bombard her. So he only began asking the most obvious one once thaw were safely inside the car and speeding down the freeway to the Greene Mansion.

"So... how long has this thing with Damien and the homewrecker been going on?" The uncertainty was clear in his voice but he needed to get a better picture. "And how did you find out? How did Dominique handle it?"

Tess smiled when Jackson said that Dominique had the right idea. “ I know my parents were already planning for her to come to spend two weeks with them. Then they found out about the divorce and what Damien did.” Tessa was right now a single mother and she was running a business. Right now she wasn’t trying to think about Damien or his floze. She had more important things to worry about. And he wasn’t one of them. But she hated him for everything that he had done to both her and Dominique.

“Yes, dinner sounds like a good plan.” Tessa was getting hungry from waiting on Jackson. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea that she skipped lunch. Tessa smiled as Jackson casually slung his arm around her shoulders. She knew that she would have to fill him in on everything. This wasn’t the best place to air out the dirty laundry. Even if she hated Damien for everything he did, she didn’t think she should be talking about it in public. Once they were in the car and heading back to Greene Mansion was she comfortable about talking about it.

And Tessa knew that the first question would be how long has this been going on. “ Jackson it has been going on over a year.” She hated that she didn’t realize this earlier. Now he was asking how she found out. “ Something wasn’t adding up but I didn’t think much of it. Till one of our friends said that they saw us out at a fancy restaurant. Expect that it was me so I got curious about it.” Of course, Jackson would also be worried about Dominique. “ I haven’t really explained it too much to her. But I am doing the best I can with her.”

A year? And Jackson hadn't known? He'd met Damien several times over the course of his campaign for Senator and had appeared on Fox News twice in a bid for publicity. All this time, the sleazeball had been acting like a decent man while cheating on his wife. Jackson shook his head, disgusted that he had once thought of the man as his friend.

"How about the business side, I know his parents are the major stakeholders in Fox. So is he still working there or..? Jackson trailed off, not knowing how rich people actually separated. Never having much money to his name, he could only assume that going halfsies was not an option for people like the Greenes and Greys.

When Tessa admitted that she hadn't told Dominique much, the wizard understood. How do you tell a thirteen year old what her dad had done? Damien's actions towards Tessa may have been understandable to a certain extend but the man had abandoned his child, that was unforgivable.

"I hope you know you aren't alone in all this T. I'm here as long as you need me, to do whatever. Whether you want me to be there while you talk to Dominique, or take out the trash, or even hang around and be your personal bodyguard. Al I really need is a working gym and I'm set." the last bit was only half a joke, most of Jackson's friends knew he was a fitness freak and couldn't go a day without working out.

Tessa didn’t want to think how this was happening to her. And she didn’t even see the signs to this going on. She had thought that Damien loved her and would never do this. Tessa would have said that Damien was a good father and husband. But after everything that has happened, this wasn’t true anymore. Tessa knew that this wasn’t her fault. It was Damien who cheated and had the affair. So she wasn’t going to blame herself for everything that has happened. As she knew that she would never know why he actually did it. It was already done and nothing was going to change it.

Now they were talking business which wasn’t bad. As she was running Fox network. “ Right now I am running Fox as I think he is off with his bimbo. Saying that he is trying to save face as he cheated on me. And then makes it all my fault. And I really have no idea what is going to happen. I am taking it one day at a time. And I know that I will not be losing my half of Fox as his parents actually are siding with me on this. So everything will play out, but I may be taking over.”

Tessa told Jackson that she hadn’t really told Dominique a whole lot. “ Yeah, that is why she is in New York longer than planned. My parents are trying to keep her happy and not think about the divorce. But I won’t lie Dominique refers to Damien mistress as a bimbo.” She couldn’t believe that Damien would abandon Dominique. She could understand that he did it to her. But that was his little girl. And she knew that she would go to have to make it up to her. Which she wasn’t sure how.

She smiled as she was listening to Jackson. “ I know that I am not alone, I know you will be here for me.” Tessa knew that Jackson would do anything for her. “ Don’t you have to get back to Sasha who is in England. I am sure that she would want to spend time with you too.” She knew that Jackson was being sweet. “ Oh, so you need a gym? I guess it is lucky that Greene Mansion has one now.” She was going to enjoy her little time she had with Jackson.

It was both surprising and a relief to hear that old man Greene had come down on Tessa's side of things. An affair outside of marriage was not high on these families list of reasons to disown a child but the Greenes seem nicer than their son. So Tessa was in charge of Fox now... More work to add on to her already stressful situation.

"Well, if you need help around the office, I've practiced siting on a desk a lot in the past year. Being a senator and being an exec at Fox must be about the same amount of boring right?" The small joke was designed mostly to make ehr laugh, Jackson knew she probably had things under control, probably because the boar of directors was still very much controlled by Damien's father.

When she brought up Sasha, he merely shook it off. "Don't worry about her, she got accepted to a university here. She'll be packing up and moving to the U.S come July anyway so we'll have lots of time to spend together." And until then, Jackson was sure she could manage alone, she had up until now so there was no reason for her to need him there to watch her pack.

“ Oh, so you need a gym? I guess it is lucky that Greene Mansion has one now.”

"I need it more than I need food," he joked, though hastily adding. "Though I'll appreciate food all the same. Oh god T, you should meet my colleague, she cooks the best food in the world. Let's see if your chefs can top her cooking."

The rest of the car ride was spend engaging in light conversation and humorous banter, Jackson trying to take the witch's mind off her current predicament. And as both friends sped down the highway to the Greene' estate, neither saw a discrete black car following their limo, or noticed the small flashes of distant photographs being taken into the rolled down window of their car.