From Eden [tms - lamb]
“Babe, there’s something tragic about you
Something so magic about you
Don’t you agree?”
Bradley Jackson is tiny. Not that Laura has ever thought herself as a tall woman, and she doesn’t even wear heels a lot. But Bradley Jackson shows up at the airplane, and she’s smaller than Laura thought she would be. And her smile is genuine, but Laura can see all the ways the younger woman is nervous. She’s not really expecting the woman who told America about her abortion at 15 to be like that. Bradley surprises her a lot. At first at how easy she is to talk to. Bradley is honest, even if she’s holding back. Laura wonders if Alex has said something to Bradley, certainly not the entire truth. At the hotel, Laura thinks Bradley might kiss her. She’s expecting it. They’ve been talking and it’s been easy, and there was a hint of flirting and Laura waits for it. Laura thinks about it in bed, wonders if Bradley was expecting her to make the first move. Laura rarely does it, doesn’t need to do it. Women find the way into her bed pretty easily themselves. And then, Bradley surprises her again with the kiss. She’s annoyed they’re in a car, and she can’t really do much except kiss Bradley back. When Bradley enters her house, Laura can still see the anxiety in her. The way she makes herself a little smaller, takes less space. When Laura kisses her, it disappears. Bradley is all kisses and hands. It is almost overwhelming how much energy Bradley has. Laura laughs and make her slow down a little. Laura likes to take her time, to tease. She takes her time undressing Bradley, kissing down her neck, taking off her bra. It takes a few seconds to register, when Laura’s mouth leaves Bradley’s chest and Laura finally takes her time to look at Bradley’s body. The tattoo is small, under Bradley’s left breast, but it’s there. A double Venus.
Exactly like Laura’s.
“Is there something wrong?” Bradley asks. Laura’s hand goes to the tattoo, caressing. “This is not mine.” Bradley says. She’s hoping that won’t be a problem. “I know.” Laura says, and finally their eyes meet. Laura smiles. “It’s mine.”
Laura is 25 when she gets the tattoo. It’s not exactly uncommon for this to happen. When your soulmate gets something permanent marked in their skin, it shows on yours. But Laura is considerate, so she does something small and in a private place. Somewhere other people won’t see. It’s for her, it’s for her soulmate too.
Bradley doesn’t believe in soulmates. Doesn’t really think they’ll be necessarily good to her. Her parents are soulmates and it never stopped them from being bad to each other. And to her and to Hal. She doesn’t need a soulmate. It’s even worse when she wakes up, at 15, and sees the tattoo on her skin. She knows what it means, knows it’s from her soulmate. But she’s not ready to begin unpacking that. So she hides it. It never really shows up, it’s thankfully in a private place, and Bradley doesn’t have to look at it at all. Sometimes she even forgets its there.
If it takes time for Laura to register the tattoo, it takes even more for Bradley to register what Laura is trying to tell her. That it is Laura’s tattoo. That they are soulmates. Bradley freezes.
“Hey, talk to me, please” Laura is really a no drama person. But Bradley’s her soulmate, and she’s not willing to lose another one.
“Babe, there’s something lonesome about you
Something so wholesome about you
Get closer to me”
Maggie is really close to become a name in the industry when she meets Laura Peterson. Laura was outed, but was recovering from being fired from YDA. With UBA hiring her and letting her do the hard news, she’s becoming famous too. Private life never disclosed. She does not talk of soulmates, of girlfriends or family. Maggie wants a full profile. She wants the real Laura Peterson on her interview. Somehow between following Laura around, and asking personal questions, Maggie ends up on Laura’s apartment, holding the woman against the door and kissing her hard as her hands work on opening her black button down. The double Venus is a sight Maggie is sure she won’t forget ever. Maggie is almost 35 at the time, and she wasn’t counting on meeting her soulmate at all. She certainly didn’t expected them to be Laura Peterson of all people. Maggie gives two steps back. Her eyes don’t leave Laura’s when she works on taking her own shirt and bra. Maggie needs to take Laura’s hand and place it at the tattoo for the woman to finally realize its existence.
“Are the scars yours?” Maggie asks, because she needs to know.
”No. But I have them too.” Laura says. They both feel some sort of relief and sadness at the same time.
"No tired sigh, no rolling eyes, no irony.
No “who cares”, no vacant stares, no time for me.”
Alex Levy fights EVERYTHING. She fights Laura. She fights Maggie. She fights her own feelings.
She fights even the marks on her skin.
Alex Levy will be anchor. Will be known and loved by America. And she won’t let anyone, or anything, get in her way.
And that means abandoning her soulmates. So she does.
Maggie and Laura really try after that. But after Alex there is too much hurt.
“Honey, you’re familiar like my mirror years ago.
Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on it’s sword.
Innocence died screaming, honey ask me I should know.
I slithered here from Eden just to sit outside your door.”
Laura can see all the ways Bradley is hurt. It’s in her fear of coming out. In the way she throws words so carelessly at Laura. In the way she holds on to Laura, as she apologizes.
Laura hushes Bradley inside. She needs to tell the truth, tell Bradley about Alex, about Maggie. She knows its probably unfair to throw this at her, but she needs to tell the truth before they continue whatever it is that they have. Bradley needs to know Alex and Maggie are her soulmates too.
Bradley says she won’t tell Alex about it. She can’t really deal with Alex right now. But she wants Maggie to know. She wants to know Maggie.
Laura sends her a message. It’s a very simple one. “Found the one with the scars.”
Maggie shows up at Laura’s not even 20 minutes after reading the message.
Bradley is 13, and she hates her family. But she feels nothing. She’s been feeling nothing for so long it seems impossible she’ll feel anything. It’s way past midnight, and her mother is fast asleep after having too much to drink. Bradley sleeps into the bathroom, quietly. She has a full ritual now. She takes off her pajamas pants. She sits on the cold floor. Blade, cotton, cream and bandage in front of her. There are already fading scars on her tights. Bradley let herself cry at the pain from the cuts, silently. She adresses the cuts. Make sure blood won’t slip through. Hides her things. If her brother know, he doesn’t say a thing. Bradley wonders then what her soulmate - if she even has one - thinks of her.
First time Bradley met Maggie she was nervous. Maggie is a terrifying interviewer. Sharp eyes, ready to cut. But when she enters Laura’s apartment and she looks at Bradley, well, Maggie’s eyes are soft. She thinks back on all those years she wondered about the scars. How she would count them every day, feeling her heart break every single time she spotted new ones. How many years later, she felt relieved when she realized there wasn’t new ones for almost a month, and then two. When she looks at Bradley, she finds herself not having the words to express how much she feels for the young blonde. So Maggie pulls Bradley into a hug, kisses her forehead softly.
“I’m so glad you’re here with us.” Maggie says, after a while. It’s not enough to show Bradley how much she feels, but it’s enough for the moment.
“Babe, there’s something wretched about this
Something so precious about this.
Where to begin
Babe, there’s something broken about this
But I might be hoping about this
Oh, what a sin”
Alex loves Mitch. She truly does. Her marks never fade, the double Venus tattoo, the scars in her tights, the freckles on her shoulders, they never really go away. And Mitch might not be a decent person. But at least he does not question it. Maybe it's worse that they have no marks that are the same. Alex knows that if it ever goes out no one would defend it. She knows lots of people love people who aren't their soulmates; but to betray hers for a man like him feels like its own brand of self hate and self sabotage. They fuck, twice. A mistake Alex doesn’t let herself commit ever again (not after the pregnancy scare she never tells him about). As they dance in Italy, it ends. Alex is surprised by how much she doesn't feel with it, with him. It doesn’t prepare her for the news of his death. She does what she needs to do. Confirms his death, tell his wife. She asks Bradley to deliver the news to America. She can’t be the one in front of the camera.
Bradley is anxious for the program to end. She hates delivering the news of Mitch’s death. She hates how much she wants to take the car and go to Alex. Because ok, she knows what Laura and Maggie told her, knows how Alex has ran from them. But she still feels this urge to see Alex, anyway. By the time the show ends, Bradley has decided.
She messages Chip, who tells her Alex is in her own apartment. She messages Maggie too, who’s easier to agree to this crazy idea than Laura.
She walks into Laura’s dressing room. It takes a kiss, and making a puppy face and some talking. Not in that order, but Laura agrees.
When Alex’s assistant opens the door. Alex looks at the three women in her door and says NO, loud. Then she tells her assistant to go home. Alex should’ve known the moment she knew Bradley and Laura were a thing. But she just makes the connection when she looks at the three women at her door. It really feels like Alex is looking at Bradley for the first time.
“Are the scars yours?” Alex asks, she gets up and closer to Bradley with some difficulty (her back still hurting). But she does, and then her hands are holding Bradley’s face softly. Bradley only nods. Alex should’ve known it would be Bradley Jackson. It feels like she's finally ready to stop fighting her own fate. They hug. Alex kisses Bradley, even if she had started to cry. They all know they need to talk things out. But even Laura can’t find energy to do that immediately. Instead they spend all afternoon enjoying each other’s company. And maybe one day, they all think, they might heal from their past.