Five Months Ago

Gemma stepped out of the shower already feeling like she was running behind on getting ready. She had stopped by the tailer to pick up her dress and Jaime's tux. Jenny was supposed to help her get ready but her flight got delayed meaning that she needed to get ready on her own, and it always took her so long to get ready. 

She immediately got to doing her hair and makeup which she admittedly wasn't the best at and wondered if maybe she should have asked for Brenda's help to get ready. But that almost felt a little selfish considering that she had given Brenda the day so that she could get ready for the event too. 

"Hey." Jaime said as he stepped into the room, he looked a little sweaty and she could only assume that he had been of being Blue Beetle, so she really couldn't be upset that he was late. He had a bag in his hands as he walked over to her placing  "Sorry I'm late."

"Don't worry about it I picked up your tux." Gemma said with a smile as she used her makeup brush to point to the tux handing in the corner. 

"Mom and abuela made tamales." Jaime said as he placed the bag on the vanity in front of her. The bag had enough for her to eat for at least a couple of days, and Gemma hadn't even realized that she had skipped lunch until the smell of tamales filled the room the moment she opened the bag. "You always forget to eat."

"Thank you." Gemma said making a mental note to thank his mom too later that night. She never failed to always send her food anytime that she could. "I'll eat while you take a shower or else we're going to be late." 

It wasn't long before they were both fully dressed for the gala and although they were going to be a little late it wasn't too much of a big deal. Tom was probably already at the venue charming all the attendees and make sure she wasn't too missed. 

"Oh I almost forgot." Gemma said as she grabbed her purse pulling out a velvet box that she had been excited to give him all day. Opening it she turned it towards Jaime for him to see, and immediately his eyes widened as he recognized the object inside. "I finally got your dad's watch fixed." 

"Wow. Thank you." Jaime said as he put the watch on, and all the weeks of searching and individually manufacturing parts was worth it just to see the smile on his face. "How much did it cost to get it fixed?"

"Don't worry about it." Gemma immediately dismissed not wanting him to feel weird about what it had cost to get it fixed. Instead she slipped on her heels that she knew would be killing her in a matter of hours.

She watched as Jaime nervously adjusted his hair in front of the mirror, and maybe Gemma was biased because she thought that his hair always looked perfect.

"Hold on." Gemma said as she reached over and straightened his tie. "Perfect."

Jaime smiled as he moved closer to her. "Me or the tie?"

"The tie. Duh." She replied as he placed as hand behind her neck pulling her into a kiss. 

"Aren't you funny?" He said as he kissed her again, except this time he deepened the kiss. In that moment Gemma was entirely ready to completely forget about the gala and just stay in with him. 

"I love you." Gemma said softly and she felt Jaime tense as he normally did before he smiled placing another kiss on her lips. 

"Come on we're going to be late." He said as he pulled away from her and Gemma couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. They had been dating for almost a year now and she had never been in a relationship that lasted anymore than maybe a week before, so she really didn't know how long it usually took people to say I love you too each other. She had told him months ago and he had yet to say it back but she didn't want to overthink it like she tended to overthink everything. 

Gemma smiled as she picked up her clutch trying to ignore there weird feeling she had in her chest. "Yeah lets go."  

The gala was as stressful as she had expected because there was nothing that she hated more than having to talk to so many strangers who probably continued to see her as just Anthony Ivo's daughter. Luckily Jaime was a lot better at smalltalk that she was as he charmed most of the guest. 

A couple of hours into the event Jenny had accidentally given Gemma the perfect excuse to take a break from all the socializing when she ripped her dress. They had found an empty room as Jenny began to complain about the dress as Gemma did her best to fix it. It would be a temporary fix but they only had a few more hours to go before they could all go home. 

"Fuck this dress." Jenny muttered in annoyance as Gemma finished the last couple of stitches. It was clearly an expensive dress which made Jenny's frustration understandable. 

Gemma laughed as she stepped back to make sure that the stitches weren't noticeable. She knew nothing about sewing clothing and it was definitely very different from doing stitches on people, but the fix on the dress wasn't too noticeable. "Okay done." 

"I forgot to pack pajamas, do you think I can borrow some later." Jenny questioned as she looked at herself in the mirror making sure that she looked as perfect as she always did. 

"Of course." Gemma said as they began walking back out to the crowd of people who were still "Do you want to get breakfast tomorrow?"

"I can do breakfast. My flight back to Palmera isn't until noon." She said as she began to scan the crowd clearly looking for someone in particular. "Sorry. I'm just looking for this guy named Michael Holt. I want to get him to work for the company."

Gemma nodded in approval having heard a lot about Michael Holts work. He was currently working at S.T.A.R. Labs but Jenny had to have a pretty good contract planned for his if she believed that she could get him  to leave S.T.A.R. Labs. 

"Go find him." Gemma encouraged watching Jenny immediately disappear in the crowd, determined to find who was undoubtedly one of the smartest men in the world.

Not wasting anymore time Gemma began her search for Jaime, but she didn't have to look too long because he was standing by the bar with Tom. They were talking which was a little unusual considering that they usually didn't talk to each other much.

"Hey." Tom said with a smile as he placed his drink on the bar. Tom didn't tend to drink much, especially at these kinds of events and his drink looked completely untouched. "Oliver Queen was looking for you. Should I send him over?"

"Yeah." Gemma said before turning her attention back to Jaime who's mood had completely changed from the last time she had seen him. She waited for Tom to leave before taking Jaime's hand trying to meet his eyes. "Are you okay?"

Jaime nodded but he wasn't completely meeting her eyes. "I'm good."

Clearly he was not okay, but she didn't have a chance to try to get the truth out of him before Oliver Queen and a woman that she assumed was his wife approached them. She had only seen Oliver Queen on magazine covers so seeing him in person did make her a little nervous as he was practically a celebrity. 

"Oliver Queen nice to meet you." He introduced as he shook both of their hands. "And this is my beautiful wife Dinah."

She definitely was one of the most beautiful women that Gemma had ever seen. She blonde hair was perfection and the black dress she was wearing made her look like she had walked off a red carpet. But as she was also incredibly nice and funny as they went through the usual smalltalk in these events. It was no surprise that she was able to get a man like Oliver Queen who once had a reputation of being a playboy to settle down.

"So what do you do Jaime?" Oliver Queen questioned and Jaime had already been acting weird before they were approached by the Queens, but now that the attention was solely on him he became visibly tense. It was unlike him to be so quiet, especially when Oliver and Dinah were probably the friendliest people they had spoken to all night. Though Jaime really hadn't said much which was why probably why Oliver was trying to include him in the conversation more. 

"I'm currently applying for law school." He said simply in a tone that Gemma didn't really like. He said it so dismissively as if it wasn't a big accomplishment for him. He had spent months studying for his LSAT and getting amazing scores. It had been difficult for him to do considering that he had been spending more time as Blue Beetle. 

The last thing Gemma wanted was for Oliver Queen to not see how great Jaime was. Not when Jaime was out being a superhero and also continuing his education. 

"How exciting." Dinah said with a bright smile that could have lifted anyone's spirits, but not Jaime's. 

"Aren't you a lucky guy getting to date beautiful rich genius like Gemma. Other guys would kill to be in your shoes." Oliver said is words meant to be both a compliment but also a joke still trying to crack Jaime, who didn't seemed very amused. Oliver Queen was clearly sensing the tension as he turned to Dinah, the two of them sharing a look like if them could read each other's minds. "A lot of people say Dinah is the lucky one getting for marrying the hottest billionaire in the world but I would have to disagree."

"Yes, because people would argue that the hottest billionaire is Bruce." Dinah said her words meant to tease her husband and in that moment it was so obvious just how much the two of them loved each other. 

"Excuse us we're going to have to fight now." Oliver said with a smiled as he turned his gaze back to Gemma and Jaime. "It was nice meeting you both. Hope we can work with you in the future Gemma." 

"I look forward to it." Gemma said returning their smile waiting for both of them to be far enough before turning to Jaime.  He looked absolutely miserable that now it had to be obvious to everyone. "Are you sure you're okay?" 

"I'm sorry Gemma." Jaime said his vice almost a whisper and Gemma initially wasn't sure if he had spoke until she looked up to meet his eyes. They were almost unreadable as they held an expression that she had never seen before, but she immediately knew that it wasn't good. 

"Sorry about what?" 

Jaime shook his head as he took a step away from her and Gemma immediately felt her heart sink a little bit from worry. "I can't do this."

It took her a moment to answer not sure if she even wanted to say anything at all. But she knew that he never really liked going to these kinds of events, but he still attended them because he knew she wanted him there. "Do what? Do you want to go home?"

"I mean us." He clarified as he looked around making sure that nobody was paying attention to them. As if what other people thought suddenly mattered as he left her completely speechless . "I'm sorry."

Gemma felt frozen in place for a moment still not understanding what had happened. She wanted to believe that she misunderstood his words, but they had been clear. Snapping back to reality Gemma quickly began to make her way through all the people trying to get outside. 

"Gemma what's wrong?" Jenny said as she stepped in front of Gemma who could only desperately shake her head before stepping around Jenny and continuing to run after Jaime. 

He was already halfway down the drive way as she began running down the stairs. It was a miracle that she hadn't twisted her ankle in the heels that she was wearing, but that was the least of her worries as all she wanted was to catch up to him. She was so confused about what had happened that it was making her dizzy. 

"Jaime wait!" Gemma called out and thankfully he did stop but he didn't turn around to face her. There was something about the tense set of his shoulders that Gemma decided to stay a couple of feet away from him, feeling that if she got closer she would make the situation worse. "Can we talk about this? What happened?"

When he finally turned around his expression was cold, it was unfamiliar and so unlike him that she didn't even know what to think. "Gemma this just isn't working."

"What did I do wrong?" She asked desperately trying to understand what had happened, because they had been fine earlier. And she really didn't want to lose him. If it had something to do with her she could change.  "I can fix it. Don't do this to us."

"I have to go." Jaime said as he turned away from her and started walking away from her. 

"Jaime..." She said as she stepped forward with the intention of running after him again, but someone got a hold of her arm preventing her from doing it. Gemma wanted to argue with Jenny until she pulled her into a hug. That was when Gemma realized that Jenny was trying to save her from humiliating herself any further. 

"Don't cry. You're going to ruin your makeup." Jenny whispered as she finally pulled away, but took her hand as she guided her to a nearby bench. She started looking through her bag and setting some makeup to the side. Although Gemma did have tears in her eyes she hadn't fully began to cry, she was too confused and stunned to do it. "You just have two more hours of this and then you can cry it out okay?"

Gemma shook her head doing her best keep holding back her tears even though she felt seconds away from fully breaking down and sobbing. "I don't think I can do it."

Jenny reached forward  and turned Gemma head to face her before pointing towards the event venue behind them. "That right there is your accomplishment, he can't take that away from you. You are brilliant and accomplishment and you are his lose. He isn't yours."

Gemma let the words sink in wanting desperately to believe them the way Jenny did. 

Somehow she was able to hold herself together for the rest of the night. Even the drive home she was able to keep her composure, mostly due to there being a part of her that was hoping that when they got home that Jaime would be there. That maybe he regretted everything and it was just him having a really bad night. What he had done was absolutely terrible but if he just explained himself she would forgive him. 

When she and Jenny finally stepped inside the house Gemma kicked off her heels at the doorway before immediately heading upstairs. As she opened the door to her bedroom she froze in the darkness, the realization that what she had been hoping would happen was wrong. That Jaime wasn't there waiting to apologize for how terribly he had treated her at the gala. 

She felt Gemma come up behind her but now Gemma just wanted to shatter the last remains of hope that she was still holding onto as she walked into her closet and turned on the light. Covering her mouth with her hand Gemma finally felt the tears slipping down her cheeks at the sight of the corner of her closet that had Jaime's clothes was empty.

"Gemma." Jenny said pulling Gemma into a fight hug as her silent tears suddenly became sobs.

"He's really gone." Gemma said the familiar feeling of loneliness creeping in as she held onto Jenny desperately trying to remind herself that she wasn't completely alone. 

Gemma had never felt so small and insignificant in her life. Though she supposed that it was all her fault for having given everything only for it all to be thrown away. 

Gemma woke up not remembering falling asleep on the floor. Though she knew that she would never be able to sleep in the bed that she had shared with Jaime again.

Jenny was asleep next to her and Gemma couldn't help but feel guilty for it. From the lump in her throat to the puffiness she still felt in her eyes Gemma had clearly been crying for a long time before she had finally found sleep. Even now waking up on her bedroom floor she still couldn't full accept what had happened. 

Looking at the clock on the other side of the room she realized just how early it still was, but she didn't move from her spot on the floor as she simply continued to look up at the ceiling. Two hours later Jenny began to wake with a yawn looking as disoriented as Gemma had when she had woken up at 5am.  

Jenny sat up running her fingers through her tangled hair acting as if they both didn't just have a terrible night of sleeping on the floor. "Let's go get breakfast." 

"I'm not hungry." Gemma replied as she also sat up before letting her back rest on the wall behind her. Her entire body hurt and the last thing on her mind was to eat. 

"You have to eat." Jenny stated firmly as she finally stood up looking down at Gemma who began playing with the hem of her t-shirt having no interest in leaving the house or being like Jenny and asking like if nothing was wrong. Because so much was wrong and she couldn't ignore the fact that she wanted to break down in tears again, not to mention that it felt so difficult to breathe. "Fine I'll be right back." 

Gemma forced herself to wash her face hating what she saw in the mirror. She hadn't removed her makeup from the night before and her mascara and eyeliner were running down her face. The worst part of it all had been that Gemma had never expected Jaime to do this to her.

The door to the bedroom opened and Gemma immediately stepped out of the bathroom a foolish part of her expecting it to be Jaime, only to end up disappointed to find that it was Jenny who was holding a tray with two coffees and a bag of food.

Jenny set everything on the floor probably knowing that Gemma didn't want to be anywhere near that bed. Gemma joined her on the floor only able to stomach a couple of bits of food, which clearly frustrated Jenny but she was clearly planning on fighting different battles.  

"You know what's going to help?" Jenny said before leaving the room, retuning a couple of minutes later with a cardboard box that she must have gotten from the garage. It was one of the left over boxes that had been used when Tom had discarded all of her father's things almost a year ago, though at this point it felt like so much longer than a year. 

"What are you doing?" Gemma asked as she began to pickup all the food and trash from the floor. Though she already had an idea of what Jenny was planning to do.

"If Jaime left any of his shit here, or if there's anything he have you you're putting it in the box." She stated as she walked across the room grabbing a couple of stuffed animals that were on her bed. Gemma was a little surprised that she accurately guessed that they had been gifts from Jaime. 

Gemma walked to one of the drawers where she had some t-shirts and hoodies that had been Jaime's but she had kept and usually used to sleep in. Up until that moment she had been proud of herself for not crying, but suddenly it became impossible to hold just the tears. 

"Put them in the box." Jenny ordered and Gemma hadn't actual expected it to be as hard as it was. Because the truth was that she didn't want to let him go. She didn't even remember who she was before him.

Releasing a shaky breath Gemma let the clothes fall into the box. She thought that it would help her feel better, maybe it did a little bit but considering that she was still in the same room as the bed the slept in and a house that now had so many memories of them together there wasn't much of the relief she was expecting. 

Gemma looked up at the lock again realizing that they has been packing away any trace of Jaime Reyes that they could find in the entire house for at least an hour. 

"Look I have to go." Jenny said as she also looked up at the clock, she clearly was reluctant on leaving but she was the CEO of a company that was still struggling after everything that happened with Victoria Kord. "But I'll call you later okay?"

"It's okay go." Gemma assured her not wanting to hold her back in any kind of way. 

Jenny silently gathered all her things and gave Gemma one last hug before leaving. And again Gemma found herself along in a house that was ridiculously too big for her alone. It was a house that she could even stand the sight of anymore as she ripped the sheets off the bed and throwing them in a trash bag. 

In a way she did feel a little better as suddenly a crazy idea took over as she took a quick shower wanting to wash away ant trace of the night before. 

She changed into a pink sweater and jeans, because maybe if she wore bright colors she wouldn't look as miserable as she felt. Getting into the truck she paused not sure why all of a sudden she found herself crying again like a complete mess. Taking a deep breath she did her best to pull herself together wiping away her tears before starting the car looking at the time on the dashboard.

She had considered calling Javier to take her, but she really didn't feel like explaining it all to him. She didn't want to burden anyone else with her problems and although she hated driving and Javier had helped her pass her driver test only a month ago she wanted to try doing something on her own. 

Gemma glanced at her watch as she waited for Brenda outside of the apartment building. She had texted her only a couple of minutes ago so she didn't mind waiting, but she hoped that Brenda would hurry because she really didn't want to be alone. 

"So what is this about?" Brenda questioned as she opened the car door but paused when she actually got a good look at Gemma. Clearly whatever she saw was worrying as she quickly got into the car. "What happened?"

Gemma opened her mouth but the words got stuck in her throat. She hadn't expected them to be so difficult to say. "Jaime broke up with me."

Brenda's eyes went wide as she shocked her head looking as shocked and confused as Gemma still felt about everything. "I'm sorry what? No way."

"Feel free to tell me if this is crazy, but I just want refurnish the whole house." Gemma said instead not wanting to continue talking about Jaime, even though what she wanted to do had everything to do with Jaime. "Like scrap everything and start over." 

"No, it sounds like fun." Brenda said as she put on her seatbelt and Gemma couldn't help but be grateful that not only Brenda was going along with what she was doing, but that she also wasn't asking for any details about what happened. 

It had taken most of the day to select new furniture and what colors to paint the walls. Luckily Brenda was a lot better at home decor than Gemma could ever be and was able to put something completely new together. Gemma couldn't believe that she hadn't redecorated the mansion earlier considering that it was styled to her father's liking and not her own. Now she could effectively try to erase any trace of Anthony Ivo and Jaime Reyes. 

By the time that they returned to the house most of the furniture had been removed like Gemma had requested from Javier. She had told him to take whatever he wanted and to donate the rest. It would be a couple of day for the rest of the furniture to be removed and have the walls repainted before the new furniture came in. And although it wasn't all gone Gemma did feeling some kind of pressure being lifted from her chest seeing disappearing. 

Now she was sitting at the edge of the pool with Brenda, both of them only letting their feet in the pool as they looked out at the setting sun. Brenda had found the cellar with all the alcohol and selected what Gemma assumed was an expensive bottle. Truthfully she didn't know much about alcohol and her father had accumulated so much over the years. 

The two of them were taking sips straight from the bottle, something that Gemma would have never thought she would do. The first sip had been absolutely awful but as the effects of the alcohol began to kick in every sip became easier, and Gemma found that she was grateful for the numbness that it brought.

With a sigh Gemma looked down at her watch again as she handed the bottle back to Brenda. 

Brenda brought the tequila bottle up to her lips again before handing the bottle to Gemma. "Why do you keep looking at your watch?"

"The day is almost over." Gemma replied looking back up at the setting sun the realization really starting to hit her that he had left. "I guess I was hoping that he needed a day to think it all over. That he would come back and realize that he had made a mistake. He's not coming."

Was everything so broken between them that he didn't even want to try to fix it?

She couldn't even pretend to understand what went wrong. 

"It gets better." Brenda said softly as she pulled her legs out of the pool so that she could cross them and face Gemma. "When Paco broke up with me I became someone I didn't even recognize. But with time I was able to find my way back again. He'll always be a part of my life but he's not a defining part of it anymore."

The way she spoke about him and the look in her eyes was like she was reliving it all over again. It looked like she had really loved him, and Gemma just didn't know how two people could just go their separate ways after having loved each other. But did Jaime ever lover her? He had certainly never said that he did. "What happened?"

"We grew up." She said simply there was some disappointment in her eyes but also acceptance. Like she was at peace with how everything had turned out. "We wanted different things. We dated during high school and he was everything I ever knew. Being in Palmera was the worst because I would walk by all the places we visited and I just couldn't let him go. It was part of the reason I jumped at the opportunity to come to Metropolis." 

Would Jaime just become a footnote in her life? She hadn't dated or known him that long. Brenda and Paco had been a part of each other's live for much longer, so it had to be easier for Gemma to move past this in comparison to Brenda. 

Brenda who still had many reasons to mourn what she had lost with Paco. What did Gemma have to mourn? Feelings that had apparently been totally one sided? 

"We should head inside." Brenda suggested now that it was getting darker outside. The last thing that they needed was for them to fall into the pool after having been drinking. 

Nodding Gemma stood offering Brenda a hand to help her to her feet. "We can stay that the guest house."

All the beds in the main house had already been removed, and they had come to the conclusion that there was no point in remodeling the small guest house that hadn't been used in years. And Gemma would need to sleep somewhere until the rest of the house was ready. 

Stepping inside Gemma looked back as the sun finally set, nodding to herself accepting that she had to let him go. 

Gemma had survived enough tragedies in her life too know the routine. She survived losing her mom. She survived what her father had done. Ans she would just have to find a way to survive what Jaime Reyes had done to her.