A/N: I was so excited about the December Challenge I couldn't wait until December. I hope that's ok! :) So here's my submission. *scratches head* I'm not really sure it meets the criteria of the challenge though, hm...but it's based off SimpleObsession-1's "Hero" and I really, really hope I haven't ruined her story!! If I have I will remove it, I promise!! Anyways, being me it's a Michael/Jackie fic and it's a little different to you average death fic.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, this time even the idea's not mine!
Betrayal
Michael Jardine, or Jim Wentworth as he was now, sat on the couch in his new apartment in London looking at a photo; the one memento he had been able to snaffle from his previous life.
The photo was one of his favourites and showed him and Jackie at a Christmas party, he had his arm around her as she laughed into his shoulder at something he had said. He had kept it in his wallet but he'd taken it out before they'd ushered him into the witness protection program so he would be able to keep it with him.
So he could keep her with him.
She had always been there for him, always one step behind him, quick to defend him and even quicker to comfort him. There were some days that he knew he wouldn't have gotten through without her presence by his side.
Yet he had always been the one to get all the glory, not that she ever complained about missing out on the limelight. He had been the boss, but she was the one who kept everything together. The lynch pin that kept everything going.
She was his best friend, his closest confident...his hero. He only wished he'd been able to tell her that, but he'd never taken the time. Always thought he'd have more time.
More time to tell her that sometimes her smile was the only thing to get him through the day, that her quiet strength was what he built upon. That her presence beside him was what kept him grounded and at the same time made him feel like he could fly.
Now he only felt guilty, his very existence now felt like a betrayal of everything they had together. He had always been honest with her and somehow faking his own death seemed like a betrayal. Of everyone and everything he was leaving behind she was the one he wanted to tell, to let her know he was going to be all right. That somewhere there was someone who would always be thinking of her. Always love her.
That had been why he'd called her that night, as a way of saying goodbye. A way of letting her know he was thinking of her, that he needed her.
Oh, how he needed her.
Now all he had left was a photo and memories from a previous life he had to forget. He had to pretend that she had never existed, that she had never touched his heart and made him fly. That she had never been the one in the shadows pushing him forward, making him strong, keeping him sane.
And somehow that seemed like the biggest betrayal of all.
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A/N: If you think the photo sounds vaguely familiar it's the same one I made up for Jackie's favourite photo in "Head Girl" and since this would be a similar timeline I kind of like the idea of those two stories happening on the same night :) Oh and I chose "Jim Wentworth" for his new name because I thought it was a nice tip of the hat to Jim Taggart and Capt. Wentworth is one of my favourite Jane Austen heroes ;)
But enough about me: what did you think? Did I meet the criteria? Did I ruin SimpleObsession-1's story? (I hope not!) :S