the skeletons in our closets

Victoria ran up the stairs of her former place of work, finally free of the shackles of Sal's control. She was joyful enough that she skipped the elevator and sprint to the lab located on the third floor.

She took a moment to collect some of her essentials: her plants, specifically her favorite succulent, her chevron yearly planner, and her spare charging cord that she kept in her drawer, leaving some stuff behind, as the details of her future work plans weren't clear enough for her to remove every item that proved her existence in the lab.

Victoria thought it was strange that no one else was in the lab, not Sal or her friends or the guy she had been avoiding.

Telling Logan she was back together with Joe, and they actually made up the night after she initiated a kiss with him was a conversation she wanted to avoid for the moment.

She thought about paying him a quick visit, given that his office was on the floor above them, and he was probably going on lunch break by now.

A feeling of nostalgia for their multiple shared lunch breaks filled her stomach, she probably went on the last one they'd ever share and she didn't know that there wouldn't be another one.

Facing her feelings for Logan was off the table, as she wanted to focus solely on mending her relationship with Joe, so she decided against going to his office and began to walk away from the lab, she was just about to walk down the stairs, when she heard a familiar voice, something of an undistinguishable murmur coming from above.

She kept quiet to try and get a better listen of the noises, convinced she was hallucinating because there was no way that he'd be in the building.

Then she heard both voices getting louder, as if they were arguing.Oh yeah, it was him, there was no doubt.

She placed the cardboard box she was carrying her things in, back on her lab desk and headed one floor up.

"Joe?" She said, as she reached the door of Logan's office, and she witnessed the most unusual scene on sight.

Joe was standing up, leaning on Logan's table, looking beyond infuriated, meanwhile Logan, on the other side of the furniture, stared right back at him, with a daunting look on his face, surprisingly calm given that he had a massive 6'4" angry guy looking like an angry bull, and Logan was covered in red.

"Victoria, how very nice of you to join us. We were just talking about you" Logan was the first to notice Victoria's presence, he spotted her on the corner of his eye, feeling immense relief that she might be the only thing to stop Joe from unleashing his very reasonable anger on him.

Joe turned around to look at her, surprised that she showed up, she wasn't supposed to be here. She wasn't supposed to know.

"What are you doing here?" Victoria inquired, looking straight at her boyfriend, unable to grasp the reason for Joe's sudden appearance in Logan's office.

"I came to pick up your car. Like we agreed yesterday after I dropped you off at your place" Joe emphasized the last sentence, knowing Logan would be irritated by it. This was all the proof he needed of them getting back together.

"You picked my car up from Logan's office?" Victoria raised an eyebrow.

"I took a little detour" Joe tried to dodge her question.

"He was just leaving. Weren't you Joe?" Logan stated, wishing that this would be the last time he had to see him. Both of them for that matter.

"Yeah, that's right. Come on, Vic let me take you home" Joe put his arm tight around her shoulder.

"Logan..." Victoria tried to get him to even look at her, something that he refused to do.

"Save it" He muttered, his voice shaking.

"Victoria" Joe mustered, trying not to sound angry or hurt because his girlfriend was trying to make amends with the guy she kissed, right in front of him, but he failed. The vexation on his voice was loud.

She lowered her head, and began to walk away, Joe's arm still around her.

She was too stunned to speak, and didn't want to cause any further unnecessary scenes, so she remained quiet the rest of the walk up to her car. She even forgot the cardboard box she had packed.

"What the fuck was that?" Victoria asked, annoyed.

"Nothing" Joe tried to dismiss her questioning.

"Oh so you just payed a visit to every postdoc in the building then? What were you? Giving out autographs or something?"

"I needed to talk to him" Joe gritted his teeth.

"About what? Fuck Joe, we just got back together and you're already causing scenes at my job?" Victoria let out a sigh as she leaned against her car door.

"That is not your job anymore, you are done with your degree. Seriously Victoria what did you expect? That I would just be okay knowing you kissed him and you probably like him?" Joe asked, exasperated.

"I expected you to trust me when I told you that I don't think of him that way. Like I expected you to talk to me before coming in here and almost assaulting him" She replied, getting increasingly frustrated.

"Oh like I could trust you not to be with anyone else when we broke up?" Joe spit out.

"We were apart. I owed you nothing" Victoria felt incredibly hurt and shamed by Joe's comment.

"Yeah you keep saying that to yourself" He put his right hand on the bridge of his nose.

"We can't keep doing this. Either we're all in our we're done. But if we agree on moving forward we can't keep throwing shit in each other's faces"  Victoria bit her lip.

The possibility of being apart from her once more frightened Joe beyond belief. He knew he wouldn't bear to lose her once more. So he yielded.

"You're right. I shouldn't have brought it up, I was stupid, I'm sorry Vi, for everything" Joe leaned in to hug her.

"And you shouldn't have come here. This isn't about Logan, it's about my professional image" She mustered.

"I'm sorry for that too. Won't happen again, promise" still keeping her next to him.

"You have a lot of making up to do" She softened her voice.

"Well, have you thought about the game on Sunday? VIP suite, backstage access, me all day" Joe softly stroke her hair, feeling relieved that all was well now.

"You know what? I'll be there. Too many women think you're single still and I need to let them know the bad news" Victoria looked up to him, smiling, enjoying his long embrace.

"Now who's the jealous freak?" Joe teased her.

"Oh shut up. I've seen the things they comment on your instagram, it makes my blood boil every time"

"Luckily for you, I'm not a ladies man" Joe smiled, and the whole world seemed to fade for her.

"Oh are you not?" Victoria inquired.

"I'm your man" He softly kissed her forehead.

Sunday couldn't come fast enough.

Victoria was set on making a statement, she wasn't going for a half-ass performance, she wanted everyone to know they were back. So she wore Joe's black jersey and the heart locket he had given her for Christmas, paired with the diamond studs she received on her birthday. Taking them out of the box she had thrown them into after the breakup was alleviating for her soul.

When Joe picked her up, he couldn't help but chuckle. She was really committed, he had to admit.

"So this is your way of saying "he's mine"?" Joe laughed, as he drove off to Paycor stadium.

"More like a "stay away all who dare to look" kinda vibe" She bantered him.

"I love you so much, that this isn't weird at all" Joe kept laughing, his beautiful blue eyes shining even more.

"Keep driving Burrow" She replied, as she kissed his hand.

After arriving at the Stadium, Victoria walked up to the familiar Burrow suite, and helped herself a beer, while Joe headed to the locker room, to change into game gear and stretch with the team.

"Why is this one so cheery?" Andrei asked Ja'Marr, confused about Joe's almost permanent smile. He looked like he had just won the lottery.

"Let me guess man, you followed my advice" Ja'Marr replied, looking at Joe, who was jogging so happily it looked like he was hopping on the grass of the field.

Joe just looked back and offered him a wide smile, knowing he wouldn't hear the end of it when he confessed that he was back with Victoria.

"No way she took you back so easily" Ja'Marr joked.

"Who? Victoria? You guys finally stopped fooling around like idiots?" Andrei asked, excited.

Joe only smiled, once more, unwilling to provide further details.

"Oh they're back. Totally, that's the I -just-got-lucky smile" Ja'Marr pointed out to Andrei.

"Look at the way he's blushing when you mention her name" Andrei signaled for Joe's now red cheeks, as Joe was unable to keep from laughing.

"Oh Joe, I've missed you. Come kiss me" Ja'Marr tried to mimic Victoria's voice.

"Victoria oh yes..." Andrei fake moaned, mocking Joe in a similar manner.

"Cut it off both of you" Coach Taylor reprimanded them from a far, to which Joe felt most grateful.

"I'm just gonna say, she's here today, so let's be nice and impress her, would you?" Joe confessed, as he kept running downfield, with a playful grin on his face.

"You owe me fifty bucks Higgins" Andrei shouted at Tee who was stretching his leg on the sideline of the field.

"You bet on this? Our very close friend's relationship? Andrei why was I not aware that we were placing bets? Man I totally would've demolished you both" Ja'Marr exclaimed.

As the game was about to begin, a member of the stadium staff reached out to Joe.

"Sorry to bother you Mr. Burrow but there's a woman in the entrance claiming that she's been invited to your suite" the man said to him, distressed.

Joe stared confused.

"Who?"

"She says her name is Brooke Harrison" Joe went pale.

I'm fucked. He thought.

"No. Uhm, I mean she's not invited. Please don't let her in and under no circumstances mention this to miss Marlowe" He stated, firmly.

"The thing is, in the middle of our confusion about the guest list, miss Marlowe noticed and insisted to go down and check who this woman was"

"So Victoria is..."

"She's with Miss Harrison right now" The man on the black staff shirt confirmed Joe's worst nightmare.

Joe sprinted to the back entrance of the stadium, where he knew Victoria would be, probably smothering with Brooke at this point. He didn't even care that the game was about to begin, he just wanted to control the situation.

"Victoria?" He shouted.

"In here" She smiled, as she was saying goodbye to the front office lady, like lifelong friends.

"Everything's okay?" He asked, almost afraid.

"Yep. Everything's under control" Victoria grinned, almost Machiavellian.

"Where's... uhm?"

"Who?" Victoria smiled, playing dumb.

"Brooke" Joe finally spoke up.

"Oh her. Yeah I told her I didn't know who she was, but she insisted that you had invited her. I then told her that I'd knew if my boyfriend had invited a friend to the game. And she ran out angry. No idea as to why she reacted like that" She emphasized the words "my" and "friend" as she completed her sentence, an ever present smile on her face the whole time.

Joe was a tad bit scared of Victoria's chilled and yet disturbing reaction. However she got exactly what she wanted: a scene was avoided and her relationship with Joe was firmly engrained in Brooke's mind.

"I don't think she'll be calling you anytime soon though" Victoria grinned. "But go on, you have a game to play now"

"Right..." Joe mustered, softly kiss her for good luck and ran to the tunnel to enter the field.

Despite everything going on his mind, and the craziest emotional week of his life, he was able to lead his team to yet another win against Kansas City, it was an intense game decided on the last 3 minutes of the last quarter, but a win nonetheless. This secured the AFC north for the Bengals one more year.

Right when Victoria was about to leave the suit to meet Joe on the entrance of the stadium, her cellphone rang.

"Dr. Marlowe?" She heard a voice with a thick accent, covered by static.

"Yeah, this is her" she replied.

The conversation that ensued unnerved her, it was a harsh reminder of how her fate was far from certain, and a tough conversation she had been avoiding with Joe. But how could she bring herself to tell him, now that he was so enthusiastic about his very recent win?

As she walked up to Joe, she was unable to hide the disenchantment and fear on her face.

"What's up? We won babe, I don't know if you were aware" Joe giggled, exhilarated at his performance, the adrenaline rush and the happiness of having her in his games once more.

"There was something else I forgot to mention about Paris" Victoria muttered, visibly nervous.

"What? Please don't let it be another man, Imma throw hands" Joe laughed softly, trying to alleviate the tension he felt. Deep down he was scared and could feel his palms tingling.

"No. Nothing like that it's just.. uhm, well the reason I went there in the first place was to present my research in an international congress looking to gain attention. And it looks like I did. I was offered a postdoctoral fellowship in the spot, I'd be working under a very renowned scientist" Victoria blurted out, not letting Joe catch a break.

"Victoria that's awesome, I am so incredibly proud of you, truly your genius never ceases to impress me... why are you not happy? This is good news isn't it?" He was bewildered at her lack of enthusiasm about something that could change her career for the better.

"The offer is in LMU. In Munich, Germany" She sentenced.

"Oh" Was everything Joe managed to get out.

Hello again!When I was writing this I felt like it was all over the place, sorry about it. Truly an unhinged chapter, but navigating a reconciliation after some time apart usually is unhinged by nature. Anyways I hoped you liked the chapter! Don't forget to vote ❤️‍🩹

Do we think that Victoria is hiding something regarding Brooke..👀?Lots of love ✨