When the Imagination Flies Free...
Oct. 9th, 2006 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofavalon77On a happy note, I finished another short story that takes place 2 years after Day Five. It was penned after a VERY slow day at work and inspiration seems to come to me while I'm there because I'm trying to escape the boredom and predictablity of my job hehe. Anyways, the story takes place after Aaron gets killed in an attack that was orchestrated by Graham and now Martha has been captured to ensure Charles' cooperation in Graham's master plan. Overcome with grief for the man she had just married a few months ago, Martha lashes out at Charles like never before while he finally loses his cool and reveals how Aaron's pursuit of Martha was deeply painful but he would have prevented Aaron's death if he could. I'm not sure if it will be a one shot or the beginning of something new as Charles comforts Martha in her time of grief. We'll just have to see :)
Speaking of fan fiction, it's that time of week so here's a piece I wrote between Martha and Charles after he walks in on her and Aaron during that scene where she is trying to thank Aaron for saving her life during the motorcade attack. Martha came out a little more bitter than I like her to be but I could see her character taking this turn after her husband appeared to have left her for dead and is now upset about the one man who had saved her life. Best part about the Logans: the sparks that fly as they lit into each other :)
She needs to know that I was only thinking of the country when I didn’t call back the motorcade. That was foremost in my mind and I would have done anything to save her life. She needs to understand that.
As he approached the door to Martha’s room once more, Charles found himself squaring his shoulders and preparing himself for the confrontation ahead. Evelyn had earlier barred his entrance into his wife’s quarters but not this time. He needed her to hear him out and he would be damned if someone as inconsequential as her personal assistant was going to stop him. If she just heard what he had to say, she would come around to his point of view and forgive him.
His hand hesitated briefly above the doorknob as he once again debated whether this was the best idea. Maybe Martha just needed some time alone so she would come to him when she was ready. Sometimes that’s all she required. However, the idea of her hating him without realizing the personal cost of his decision to abandon her overcame his better judgment as he firmly gripped the doorknob in his right hand and let himself into the room. He needed to speak to her now and she needed to listen to him.
“Martha, I…” he quickly began but found himself at a sudden loss for words as he realized his wife was not alone…she was standing very close to Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce. However, it wasn’t the shock on their faces nor the guilty expressions that followed which transfixed him as he entered the room. No, it was their interlocked hands…comfortably entwined in each other’s that he could not get over. Aaron at least had the dignity to look embarrassed as he quietly excused himself from the room but Martha…her reaction was a completely different story.
“Martha, how could you! Do you know what you‘ve done?” he demanded after the door closed behind Agent Pierce. “I could have Aaron fired for this!”
“Get over it, Charles. I was just thanking him for saving my life at the motorcade,” she replied with a sigh, readjusting the blanket around her shoulders while she walked over to window. “Nothing happened.”
“And here I was coming to apologize for my behavior earlier but I see that’s unnecessary when my own wife is carrying on an affair with a Secret Service agent!” he raged, following her to the window to make his point hit closer to home.
“Please, Charles,” Martha countered, too tired to play along. “You and I both know that isn’t the case. Aaron is not that kind of man. If you would put aside your bruised ego for one minute, you’d realize that I was just showing my appreciation to a man who cared more about my life than my own husband. He was there, Charles, and he took decisive action to protect us all…unlike you, .”
“This is not about my bruised ego, Martha. It’s about right and wrong.”
“Charles, you really don’t want to get into this with me. Not now…not after what you did to the Suvarovs. You have no right to stand there and judge me after that.”
“I’m not the one being unfaithful. You took a vow-”
“Yes, a vow that said ‘in sickness and health, till death do us part’ if I recall. I don’t believe committing your wife to a sanitarium or allowing her to die in a terrorist attack would be a part of those vows, now would it?”
“That’s not what I meant, Martha, and you know it! I’m trying to say that I would never leave you for another woman.”
“And the reason for that is simple…you‘ve already given your heart to a higher god…a god called political ambition. But unlike a woman of flesh and blood who I can confront in person I can never draw you away from something you’ve always wanted,” she told him, continuing to stare outside without looking at her husband before finally turning to face him. “How can I contend with a dream?”
“That’s not true, Marty. I’ve always thought of you first. When you needed me I was there. I might have never said it but you‘ve always been on my mind,” he replied, trying to mollify her but coming up short at her icy stare.
“You lie best to yourself,“ Martha murmured before turning back to the view outside. “I‘m sorry, Charles, but I‘m not buying it. Actions speak louder than words, don’t they? So where were you when I needed you most? Where were you when everything fell apart?“
“I couldn’t, Marty. I wanted to be there but I couldn‘t…the country needed me.”
“And I didn’t?!? I was at the end of my rope, Charles!! I needed your strength to help me get by another day. I’ve always been there when you needed me. No matter how crappy I felt…no matter how much I hated the campaign trail…I was by your side. I put my own personal feelings on hold because I knew this was important to you,” she revealed, appealing to him with her pain filled eyes. “Was it just too much to ask for you to do the same for me?”
“Oh, Marty…” he whispered, his face softening as he slowly approached her again, lifting up his hand to touch her shoulder but stopping just short of making contact before letting his hand drop back to his side. “Do you really think I wanted to commit you to that sanitarium? To let you die in the motorcade attack? Ask Mike…ask anyone in the room…and they would tell you about the anguish of a man who has just condemned his wife to die. I was going to lose you and there was nothing I could do about it. Leader of the greatest nation on earth and I couldn‘t even save the woman I loved. And I do love you…if you believe anything I‘ve said, I hope you believe that.”
“But sometimes words are not enough, Charles,” she told him softly, turning again to face him but this time with a sad smile on her lips. “Sometimes you need to demonstrate the meaning of those words through your actions. And your actions today tell me all I need to about how important I am to you.”
Seeing that there was nothing he could say to change her mind, Charles Logan slowly turned around and headed out the door. She had made up her mind and there was nothing he could do to change it. However, as he stepped through the entranceway, he could not help but pause a moment before speaking quietly out loud once more.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be the husband you wanted, Martha. I hope that one day you can forgive me.”
Tell me what Aaron Pierce is up to and I won't call in the Chinese...
