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His eye worriedly scanned her face like a searchlight sweeping the surface of a ship wreck.
They'd been sitting there for minutes now, a heavy silence falling between them, an air of awkwardness settling into every nook and cranny like a low fog threatening to smother them both.
Their marriage had always been one of silences, and awkward ones had never been except from that list. It had just never been so painful before. So all encompassing.
“So…” Karen started with a smile she hoped was encouraging and bright as opposed to forced.
Plankton’s head shot up and their eyes once again met causing him to quite suddenly look as if he’d seen his own death. He swallowed and nodded in response.
“So…?”
Karen stifled a groan. HE was the one that invited her here and now here he was, fumbling over his own tongue and looking as if the slightest bit of confrontation would strike him dead.
She smiled further forcing her lips into a sickly sweet curve.
"Sheldon. What was it that you wanted to talk about?"
He curved in on himself, wilting like a neglected weed and nervously began toying with his braids.
It had been a few months since the divorce was finalized. Since she'd stepped out of the Chum Bucket doors for the final time and it somehow managed to feel both so long ago and so so so recent. She didn't regret it. No of course not, it had been a long time coming. Writhing under the surface of their union like a disease or parasite. There had been no stopping it. It was never a question of if, just when.
She still remembered the look of hopeless recognition that had flooded his face. How he'd known. She'd only had to utter the words "we need to talk" for him to know.
He must have seen it in her eyes. Must have heard it in her tone. She remembered the way his snarky response died on his tongue. He knew just as well as she did. It had been coming.
She didn't regret it. She didn't.
"I ask you again Sheldon. What was it you wanted to talk about?"
He winced and nodded in response, raising himself up and straightening his back out in what she could only assume was an attempt to make himself look larger than he really was.
"You're going to laugh" he muttered in a half sigh "but um… I just wanted to speak to you."
Karen rolled her eyes "Well yes Sheldon you said that before."
"No no I mean I just wanted to see you, to talk to you… y'know"
She tensed.
He looked up at her cautiously, now clearly nervous and frantic as he searched her face once more for any cue he could read.
"Its just I haven't really been away from you for this long and I've um sort of come to realize that I…."
"You what."
He averted his gaze once more.
"That I miss you…"
The silence was heavy. And it was violent. Tense in the same way a snake stills before it strikes.
"… Do you understand how deeply you've affected me." Karen uttered. Her voice just barely above a whisper.
Plankton smiled slightly and she fought the urge to snap his neck. The idiot thought she was complimenting him. She could see the gears turning in his head as the smile fell slightly. She could see him trying to rationalize why her tone didn't match the statement. Why her words were tinted with vitriol.
"um of course…" he murmured, his face all drawn together in confusion.
"No I don't think you do Sheldon."
His brows furrowed further.
"I don't have a last name."
"Wha-"
"Do you understand that? Do you understand what it feels like to be permanently tied to you like that? To never be able to properly be freed of you without stripping myself of something as simple as a last name?"
She didn't really remember when she stood up but she realized now that she was looming over him, he looked tiny, frightened, guilty. Good.
"Karen Plankton, Karen, Plankton's wife, Karen the Computer Wife-" She trailed off into bitter laughter and he winced at the sharpness of it.
"I can't go one day without thinking about you because you're all I've ever known. Do you know how sick everyone is of me talking about you? Do you know how much people hate you? Do you know how badly I want to go one day without you on my mind."
He shifted uncomfortably beneath her, his eye glassy and gleaming with unshed tears. 'Unbelievable' 'he's crying'.
She leaned forward further with disgust painting her features like a grotesque mask.
"You don't miss me Sheldon. You miss having someone who puts up with you."
His breathe caught in his throat as he sputtered and grasped frantically for a a response. He reached out subconsciously as if his touch would somehow fix anything. She recoiled. God he looked so pitiful it made her vision swim.
She grabbed his wrist tightly and with a harsh tug yanked him closer to her He let out a soft shuddering gasp at that, squirming in pain as her nails dug into the flesh of his arm.
"Awfully touchy today aren't we Mister Man."
She tightened her grip, just enough to hurt him, just enough to barely avoid breaking any bones.
She couldn't deny the kick she got out of his fear stricken face before she tossed him roughly to the side.
His wrist was already bruising. She smiled faintly.
"You know…" she began softly "I would say that I wish you the best"
She leaned in once more, placing her mouth right next to his ear and positioning her hands carefully along his neck and chest.
"But I think we both know you're incapable of obtaining that"
She delighted in the way he broke.