Work Text:
Annulment
Kelly knew when he heard from Brittany what she would be asking for and he was happy to oblige, to move forward with the future as an unmarried man although it had not hindered him in anyway. They hadn’t really had a lot of communication since she had left Chicago and returned home to take care of her own demons although they had sent a few texts here and there so when her name came up on his screen he knew, it was expected for a while. To make things easier she had planned to come to Chicago so they could sign the paperwork in front of the lawyer who would take care of their annulment.
It seemed like a lifetime ago since they had married in Vegas whilst on the run from all the heartache and memories that they had each left behind at home – for Brittany, the death of her sister in a car crash that she had been the driver in, and for Kelly, the tragic death of Leslie Shay which he would later discover had been murder. They had labelled their marriage ‘the most successful in history’ at the train station that final night and despite the fact they were getting an annulment he still felt that way as it had allowed them both to heal and to find a peace that they both desperately needed.
It was never meant to be a long term commitment, never meant to last, and even with that knowledge they both still cared, still remembered how their hasty marriage saved them and for that they would be forever grateful. They were too different, and really only bound by their grief and the marriage certificate.
Seeing Brittany for the first time as they met at the lawyer’s office felt different, like they had both healed and with healing came a change that they had both desperately needed. It was brief, the signing of the papers, and it was over in mere minutes but even with the dissolution of their Vegas marriage they still had the chance to catch up, to check in with each other, and to know that they were both in a good place in their lives and they both needed that knowledge that the other was healing and moving forward with life even if it was at their own pace and in their own way.